THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



A SERIES OF 
MEDITATIONS UPON THE LITANY 

OF THE 

MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS. 



BY THE 




Very Rev. THOMAS S. PRESTON, V. G., 

PASTOR OF ST. ANN'S CHURCH, N.Y. 



** This is My rest for ever ; here will I dwell, for I have chosen it.' 

Psalm exxxL 14. 



ROBERT CODDI 3N>6kXO 
246 FOURTH AVENUE. 
1878. 



NEW YORK: 




Copyright, 1878, by 
The Very Rev. Thomas S. Preston, V, G. 



Smith # McDougal, Electrotype's, 
S2 Steekman St., N. Y. 



PREFACE. 



n^HE following meditations upon the Litany of the 



most Sacred Heart of Jesus, are arranged espe- 
cially for the devotion of the month of June, which 
is becoming so general in the Church, and among all 
devout souls. They are, however, appropriate at any 
time, and can easily be used at Holy Mass, or on the 
First Fridays of the month. A better understanding 
of the different petitions of the Litany will serve to 
kindle our affections, while it illumines our intellects 
with the truths of faith. In the devotion to the 
Sacred Heart everything is contained which can en- 
lighten the mind, or quicken the soul in the way of 
virtue. It would seem as if our blessed Lord, who 
has spoken so often and in so many ways to the un- 
grateful world, now speaks by the display of His love 
and the revelation of His own tenderness. Thus He 
implores our love, and through our sanctified affec- 
tions would gain the service of all our faculties. The 



iv 



PREFACE. 



devotion to His Heart is a response to His own im- 
pulse, and the fruit of the divine Spirit working among 
men. The author, devoutly thankful to God for the 
mercy which has permitted Him to pen these medita- 
tions, humbly hopes that they may be the means of 
exciting in others a deeper love and more entire con- 
secration to Him who is the fountain of all our good, 
the beginning and ending, of our faith and hoi-)e. 
Conscious that nothing can avail without the espe- 
cial aid of God's grace, he commits his work to the 
loving and long-suffering Heart of Jesus. Here, he 
knows, the divine pity will pardon what is amiss, 
supply what is wanting, and bless what may be ac- 
ceptable to His infinite Majesty. 

T.S. P. 

Feast of the Annunciation, 1878. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



Litany of the Most Sacked Heart of Jesus 7 
Act of Consecration 10 



PART FIRST. 

THE GLORIES OF THE SACRED HEART. 

I. — The Hypostatic Union with the Word of God 15 

IL— The Sanctuary of the Divinity 22 

III. — The Temple of the Holy Trinity 28 

IV. _ The Abyss of Wisdom 35 

V. — The Ocean of Goodness. 41 

VI.— The Throne of Mercy 46 

VII. — The Treasure Inexhaustible 51 

VIII. — The Heart of whose Fulness we have all 

Received 5? 

IX. — Our Peace and our Atonement 64 

X.— The Model of all Virtues 70 

XI. — The Heart infinitely loving, and infinitely 

worthy of love 76 

XII. — The Fountain of Water springing up into 

Everlasting Life 82 

XIII. — The Heart in which the Father is well pleased 88 



vi 



CONTEXTS. 



PART SECOND. 

THE SORROWS OF THE SACRED HEART. 



XIV. — Tlie Propitiation for our Sins 95 

XV.— The Sorrow in the Garden 102 

XVI.— The Revilings of the Sacred Heart 108 

XVII.— The Wound of Love 116 

XVIII.— The Heart Pierced with a Lance 122 

XIX. — The Heart exhausted of Blood upon the 

Cross 128 

XX. — The Heart crushed with Grief for our 

Sins 134 

XXL— The Heart still Outraged by Ungrateful 

Men in the Sacrament of Love 141 



PART THIRD. 

THE OFFICES OF THE SACRED HEART. 

XXIL— The Refuge of Sinners 153 

XXIII. — The Strength of the Weak 161 

XXIV. — The Comforter of the Afflicted 167 

XXV. — Our Help in our many and great Tribu- 

lations 173 

XXVI. — Sweet Support of its Worshippers 160 

XXVIL— Perseverance of the Just 187 

XXVIIL— Hope of the Dying 194 

XXIX.— Salvation of all who trust in Thee 202 

XXX.— Delight of all the Saints 210 



LITANY 



OF THE 

MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS. 

Lord, have mercy upon us. 

Christ, have mercy upon us. 

Lord, have mercy upon us. 

Christ Jesus, hear us. 

Christ Jesus, graciously hear us. 

God, the Father of Heaven, 

God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, 

God, the Holy Ghost, 

Holy Trinity, One God, 

Heart of Jesus, hypostatically united with the 

Word of God, 

Heart of Jesus, Sanctuary of the Divinity, 

Heart of Jesus, Temple of the Holy Trinity, 

Heart of Jesus, Abyss of Wisdom, 

Heart of Jesus, Ocean of Goodness, 

Heart of Jesus, Throne of Mercy, 

Heart of Jesus, Treasure Inexhaustible, 

Heart of Jesus, of whose fulness we have all 

received, 

Heart of Jesus, Our Peace and our Atonement, 
Heart of Jesus, Model of all Virtues, 



8 



LITANY OF THE 



Heart of Jesus, Infinitely Loving, and Infinitely 
Worthy of Love, 

Heart of Jesus, Fountain of Water springing up 
into Everlasting Life, 

Heart of Jesus, in which the Father is well 
pleased, 

Heart of Jesus, the Propitiation for our Sins, 
Heart of Jesus, sorrowful in the Garden even 

unto death, 

Heart of Jesus, saturated with revilings. 

Heart of Jesus, wounded with love, 

Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance, ^ 

Heart of Jesus, exhausted of Thy blood upon | 

the cross, § 
Heart of Jesus, crushed with grief for our sins, ^ 
Heart of Jesus, still outraged by ungrateful men o 

in the sacrament of love, ^ 
Heart of Jesus, Befuge of sinners, 
Heart of Jesus, Strength of the weak, 
Heart of Jesus, Comforter of the afflicted, 
Heart of Jesus, our Help in our many and great 

tribulations, 

Heart of Jesus, sweet Support of Thy wor- 
shippers, 

Heart of Jesus, Perseverance of the just, 
Heart of Jesus, Hope of those who die in Thee, 
Heart of Jesus, Salvation of all who trust in 
Thee, 

Heart of Jesus, Delight of all the saints, 

Lamb of G-od, who takest away the sins of the world, 

Spare us, 0 Lord. 



MOST SACKED HEART OF JESUS. 



9 



Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, 
Graciously hear us, O Lord. 

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, 

Have mercy on us, O Lord. 

Christ, hear us. 

Christ, graciously hear us. 

V. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy upon us, 
It. That we may become worthy to love Thee with 
all our heart. 

Let us pray. 

Graciously vouchsafe, we beseech Thee, Almighty 
God, that we, whose glory is the Heart of Thy beloved 
Son, and who worship in it, the chief benefits which 
His love hath bestowed upon us, may enjoy these 
benefits, and draw from thence the fruit of our salva- 
tion, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 

O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst in a wonderful 
way unfold the unsearchable riches of Thy Heart, to 
Thy holy virgin, Blessed Margaret Mary, grant through 
her merits, and by following her example, that, loving 
Thee in all things, and above all things, we may in 
this Heart of Thine deserve to find our everlasting 
dwelling-place, who livest and reignest, world with- 
out end. Amen. 



Act of Consecration to the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus, 



0 most amiable and adorable Heart of Jesus ! O 
Heart infinitely compassionate and merciful ! our ref- 
uge in all dangers, our hope in all trials, our comfort 
and consolation in all sorrows ! Behold us prostrate 
before Thee to implore Thy mercy, to claim Thy pro- 
tection, and to offer ourselves entirely to Thee. Thou 
seest the dangers that surround us, the storms by which 
we are assailed. The powers of darkness have arisen 
against Thy holy Church and against Thy unworthy 
but devoted servants. They have laid waste Thy in- 
heritance, they have overturned Thy altars, they have 
persecuted those who love and honor Thy Sacred Name. 
They glory in the evil which they have done, and vainly 
boast that they have triumphed over Thee and Thy 
Holy Church, and they have striven to destroy Thy 
worship from the face of the earth. But Thou art 
Almighty, and who shall resist Thee? Thou wilt 
arise in Thy power, and Thy enemies shall perish 
from before Thy face. Thou wilt command the winds 
and the waves, and there shall be a great calm. 

Animated with this confidence in Thy power and in 
Thy love, O Divine Heart ! we present our supplica- 
tion on this clay of our solemn consecration to Thee. 



ACT OF CONSECRATION. 



11 



Deign to receive our offering, unworthy as it is, and 
grant our prayer for the Church and for Thy devoted 
children who now solemnly dedicate themselves to 
Thy honor. O merciful Jesus ! ever ready to admit 
us into the sacred and secure asylum of Thy Sacred 
Heart, we, Thy unworthy but loving servants, wishing 
to give Thee a proof of our devotion, and to receive 
from Thee the assistance and protection which, in 
these calamitou"s times, we need for Thy Holy Church, 
for the Apostolic See, and for ourselves, do, on this 
day, publicly and solemnly consecrate ourselves en- 
tirely to Thee ; our lives and our labors, our thoughts, 
words, actions, and sufferings. We pledge ourselves 
to Thee as Thy devoted servants for ever. "We conse- 
crate to Thee our Churches, our Missions, our Congre- 
gations, and all those for whose spiritual good we 
labor in Thy service ; that Thy Spirit may reign over 
them, Thy love sustain them, Thy grace sanctify them 
and make them at all times pleasing in Thy sight. O 
sweet and adorable Heart of Jesus ! accept this holo- 
caust which we offer; consume it with the flame of 
Thy Divine Love, that it may ascend before Thee in 
the odor of sweetness, and that, united with Thy in- 
finite merits, it may bring down upon us, upon Thy 
Holy Church, upon our Holy Father the Pope, and 
upon all the members of our congregations, missions, 
schools, religious houses, and institutions of charity, 
the abundance of Thy blessings, the heavenly shower 
of Thy graces, the rich treasures which Thou hast 
promised to those who love and honor Thee. Defend 
us, 0 Lord, Thy servants, with the shield of Thy pro- 



12 



ACT OF COXSECEATIOX. 



tection ; guard us against the malice of the wicked, 
who hate Thy Church because it is Thine, and who 
persecute us because we love and adore Thy Sacred 
Heart, and defend the honor of Thy Most Holy Eame. 
Let us find in Thee our refuge, our consolation, our 
hope. Be Thou, O Sacred Heart of Jesus, our sup- 
port in life, our confidence in death, our -perfect and 
eternal happiness in heaven. Amen. 



PART FIRST. 

THE GLORIES OF THE SACRED HEART. 



I 



Heart of Jesus, hypostatieally uni- 
ted with the Word of God, have 
mercy on us. 

"And the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us." — 
St. John i. 14. 

S~\UR meditations upon the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 



lead us to lift our thoughts and affections to the 
infinite love of God, as it has been manifested in the 
person and work of His Incarnate Son. We know 
that God is Love, for love is a perfection, and must in 
its fulness be found in the attributes of our great 
Creator. " No man hath seen God at any time." No 
one hath known God, for the infinite alone can com- 
prehend the infinite. Yet in the bosom of the eternal 
Trinity there is a love as incomprehensible as the 
divine nature, and far above all our conceptions. A 
divine person co-equal to the Father and the Son, and 
proceeding from both is its eternal expression. " The 
Father is of none, neither created nor begotten ; the 
Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but 
begotten ; the Holy Ghost is of the Father and the 
Son, not made, nor created, nor begotten, but pro- 
ceeding." As St. Bernard says, the Holy Spirit is 




16 



THE DITIXE SAXCTUAKY. 



" the sacred kiss of the Father and the Son, as their 
imperturbable peace, their firm coinherence, their 
undivided love, their indivisible unity." As God 
alone can know His own perfections, so He alone can 
worthily love Himself ; and all human thought and 
language fail to conceive the rapture of the Blessed 
Trinity, one in essence and three in person. Before 
this mighty God the creatures of His hand are as 
nothing. Worlds of light in the unmeasured space 
roll before Him, obedient to His will. Angels and 
archangels in their glittering ranks kneel around the 
throne of His glory. " What then is man that Thou 
art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou 
visitest him ? " Love for our race has gone far beyond 
all the bounds of thought. It has not only made man 
in the divine image, and mindful of his wants and 
weakness has visited him with the favor and compan- 
ionship of the Most Holy; it has caused the Son of 
the Highest to take our nature and the Word of God 
to be made Flesh. Thus has God taken a human 
heart in which may dwell, and by which be manifest- 
ed His great tenderness to us. We are to lift our 
adoring gaze to the throne from whence proceeds 
such wondrous love. Where Cherubim and Seraphim 
veil their faces, we have found a home. In the breast 
of no angel nor archangel is our repose. Far beyond 
their blissful choirs we pass to the uncreated, eternal 
love of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. "Behold what 
manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us." 1 



1 I. E. St. John iii. 1. 



THE DIVINE SANCTTJAKY. 17 



And there on the throne of majesty and power is not 
only the consuming fire of the Triune God, but a Man 
like unto us, bearing the emblems of regal honor and 
seated as an equal. " He must reign until He hath 
put all enemies under his feet." 1 " The Father 
hath given all judgment to the Son." 2 That human 
nature formed of the pure substance of the Immacu- 
late Virgin, by the power of the eternal Spirit, is the 
nature of God joined inseparably to the person of the 
Word. The Son is as truly man as He is God. 
"We have seen His glory, the glory as it were of 
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and 
truth." 3 The Life has been manifested in a human 
form, even that "life eternal which was with the 
Father and hath appeared unto us.'' 4 And the 
"Word thus made flesh" turns to us with a heart 
which is all our own, a human heart which He has 
taken, that with it he may love us, and through it 
express the divine sympathy, pity and affection. 

The first petition then of our Litany directs our 
thoughts to the source of all our hopes, and estab- 
lishes the grounds of our confidence, that one day 
through the mercy of our Eedeemer we may be made 
one with Him in whom we trust. That source of 
hope is His Love, and the grounds of confidence are 
found in the results of His Incarnation, which has 
made Him flesh of our flesh, our brother as well as 
our God. We have no just claims on the forbearance 



1 1 Cor. xv. 25. 

2 St. John v. 22. 



3 St. John i. 14. 
* I. E. St. John i. 2. 



18 



THE DIVIDE SAKCTUAEY. 



which has so often been treated with indifference and 
even contempt. Our race, wandering so far from 
holiness by sin, original and actual, has lost any 
right to call God Father, or to hope in His paternal 
charity. The Angels who sinned were cast down into 
hell in the very moment of their rebellion, and for 
them there has been no chance of pardon nor hope of 
redemption. They were far brighter intelligences 
than we are, and their act of transgression was the act 
of an instant. Nearer to God than our first parents, 
the deeper was their fall. Everlasting chains have 
bound them in darkness unto the judgment of the 
great day. 1 And our sins, though in the lower order 
of creation, have been so much the more offensive to 
the divine sight, as they are more obnoxious to the 
infinite purity. Is there for all this guilt a hope of 
pardon, for all this vileness a means of cleansing ? 
Shall sinning angels languish in the torments of 
undying fire, and sinning man have courage to lift 
his eyes to the throne of an infinite and impartial 
justice? Yes, for there is a Mediator who has in- 
terposed, and love holds back the arm of justice, 
and all judgment is given to one who bears our 
nature, and whose human heart pleads for our pardon 
and restoration. It is not simply our supplication 
which goes up on trembling accents before the God 
whom we have offended ; it is a voice far more power- 
ful than ours, a human voice and yet the voice of God. 
" Father forgive them for My sake, since they are the 



1 St. Jude 6. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 19 



fruit of My travail, since I have home their griefs and 
carried their sorrows. They are My own brethren by 
nature, and My children by adoption and by love, 
bound to Me by the tie of nature and of blood."" 
Such a voice is heard in the very splendors of the 
throne, when in contrition and hope we cry out : 
" Heart of Jesus, united to the Word of God, have 
mercy upon us. 3 ' Love pleads for us, and never 
pleads in vain. Here is a source of hope which 
rises above all our needs, where our Creator displays 
to us His own infinite tenderness. 

The results of the hypostatic union of the Heart of 
Jesus to the Word of God, establish the grounds of 
our confidence on immovable foundations. He who 
intercedes for us is our brother in humanity, who in 
that precious body which He took of Mary, has made 
a full atonement for all our sins. 

Let us at the beginning of this sacred month weigh 
well the gracious meaning of these truths. Why 
shall we not hope, when for us nothing has been left 
undone that could be done for our salvation ? It is 
not an angel who ventures to maintain our cause 
before the purity which we have offended, or bows, 
down his face where cherubim may not look up, to > 
intercede for sinful mortals. It is not a man who by 
sin original and actual has lost the right to call God 
his Father, nor one whose burdened conscience tells of 
broken laws, and speaks with polluted lips. It is a 
man innocent and pure, flesh of our flesh, and yet one 
whom sin and Satan have never touched. It is a man 
who is also God, equal in all things to the Father, 



20 



THE DIYIXE SANCTUARY. 



whose words of prayer are now spoken where they 
are words of command. 

And they are not simply words spoken by Him who 
hath the right to reign, since " all things are put 
under Him," 1 but they are the words of one who by 
tears and blood hath purchased our j)ardon. "He 
was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for 
our sins; the chastisement of our peace was upon 
Him, and by His bruises we are healed." 2 "This 
man offering one sacrifice for sins, forever sitteth on 
the right hand of God ; for by one oblation He hath 
perfected for ever them that are sanctified." 3 The 
atonement is adequate to the offence ; the mediation is 
complete, worthy of God and all-powerful for man. 
The sins which His blood washes away are blotted 
out for ever. The suppliant for whom He speaks 
shall find mercy and grace equal to every need. 
The Heart united to the "Word incarnate is a sor- 
rowing and suffering heart, and as in infinite pity it 
bore our griefs and carried our sadness, it pleads for 
mercy with tones which move the eternal Trinity, 
and sound to our sinful ears as the words of our 
j full and perfect pardon. "Their sins and iniquities 
will I remember no more." 4 

With hope and the assurance of a gracious answer 
do we then prostrate ourselves before the throne of 
the Sacred Heart. While with the tears of contrition 
we bring our sins before us, and pray above all 



1 1 Cor. xv. 27. 

2 Isaias liii. 5. 



3 Heb. x. 12, 14. 
* Heb. x. 17. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 



21 



for power to repent, we know we shall not ask in 
vain. We ask to enter into something of God's 
knowledge of the evil of sin, and to feel how it 
wounds the divine tenderness, that in the conscious- 
ness of our own unworthiness we may fly for succour 
to the sinner's only refuge, the open side of his 
Eedeemer. There the weary shall find rest, there 
the mourner shall find consolation, there where the 
voice of things created is heard no more, the Heart 
of Jesus, hypostatically united to the eternal Word, 
shall have full mercy upon us. 



XL 



" Heart of Jesus, sanctuary of ths 
divinity, have mercy on us." 

" In Him it hath well pleased the Father that all fulness 
should dwell." — Ep. Coloss. i. ig. 

SINCE God was pleased to take our nature and to 
become in all respects like unto His brethren, it 
is self-evident that great is the dignity of that human- 
ity which He assumed. Formed of the pure substance 
of the Immaculate Virgin by the power of the Holy 
Ghost, it is of necessity the greatest and brightest of 
all the divine creations. To it belongs every gift and 
splendor which the loving hand of the Creator could 
add to it. Man of man, the Word made flesh must 
be, and so when " He stooped to deliver our race, He 
did not abhor the Virgin's womb." Yet on Him were 
all the graces of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit freely 
lavished. The inspired Psalmist thus pours out the 
song which celebrates His humanity. "My heart 
hath uttered a good word. I speak my words to the 
King. Thou art beautiful in form, above the sons of 
men ; grace is poured out in thy lips, therefore hath 
God blessed thee for ever. Gird thy sword upon thy 
thigh, 0 thou most mighty. With thy comeliness 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 23 

and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously and 
reign. God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the 
oil of gladness above thy fellows." 1 

The Sacred Heart rejoices in this dignity of the 
humanity of God the Word, and the graces poured 
out upon it are its especial treasure. Of all human 
hearts it is the dearest to God, since it is His own ; 
and its first joy is to rejoice in His perfections. On 
account of the purity of the human nature of Jesus 
Christ, there is no created holiness like His. There 
is the fire which burns in the bosom of the Holy 
Trinity, because there God lives and moves and feels. 
All the beauties of the sacred humanity may be said 
to have here their source and centre; as from the 
central organ of life, they pass to every part and 
feature of the precious body. Yet what are gifts and 
graces, the beams from the throne, or the oil of 
gladness, compared to God Himself ? The Heart of 
Jesus is not only the seat of His love and the 
expression of the divine mercy ; it is with His whole 
human nature taken up into union with the Most 
High and made "the sanctuary of the divinity." 
"In Him it hath well pleased the Father that all 
fulness should dwell." And here in the bosom of 
the Word made flesh, the Father, Son and Holy 
Ghost have erected a chosen sanctuary, in which may 
dwell all that is most dear; where to a human and 
yet a divine heart may be manifested the glories of 
the divinity. Here is a heart with human sensibili- 



1 Psalm xliv. 1, 8. 



24 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



ties, and yet endowed with a divine power of appre- 
ciating and loving; and here may be displayed the 
uncreated beauties, the divine energies, the inexpres- 
sible peace of the three Eternal Persons. 

The Sacred Heart may then justly be called the sanc- 
tuary of the divinity, since to it hath God manifested 
Himself as He had not and could not to any other, and 
since the fruit of this manifestation is a love dearer to 
Him than that of all creatures. 

No one but God can know what God is, and this 
very knowledge is the incomprehensible bliss of the 
divine nature. An eternity was filled with this bliss 
before there was a creature to praise Him, or an intel- 
ligence to recognize His hand. To the creature can 
the Creator draw nigh only in proportion to its ca- 
pacity for knowing and loving. The angels excelling 
in strength who are confirmed in grace, according to 
their capacities, look into the infinite source of all light 
and beauty. The saints who shall be glorified with 
the beatific vision shall, like " stars, differ in glory/' 
" One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the 
moon, and another the glory of the stars, for star dif- 
fereth from star in glory." 1 Yet what intelligence can 
be compared to the sacred humanity of God the Son ? 
And as the power to love is commensurate with intel- 
ligence, what love can equal that of Him who " is in 
the bosom of the Father," and who in two natures is 
the one person of the Word ? Not only did the incom- 
municable perfections of the Deity shine into the heart 



1 1 Cor. xv. 41. 



THE DIYIKE SANCTUARY. 



25 



of the Incarnate Son, but it was a delight of the Holy 
Trinity there to show forth His greatness, where the 
infinite capacity of God was allied to human weakness, 
and where, as never before, He could make known to 
an understanding and loving intelligence His wonder- 
ful beauty. They tell us truly that we can never 
fathom the holiness of Mary the Mother of God, be- 
cause, only a creature, she was nevertheless caught up 
into the arms of her Creator, and made the instrument 
in His greatest works. How much less can we under- 
stand the glory of Jesus Christ, Man and God, or know 
how exceeding is the loveliness of that heart, to which 
the uncreated beauty reveals itself, on which ever shines 
the light of the beatific vision, not simply that vision 
which shall make glad the saints, but the sight of a 
nearer and a substantial union. 

From this holy sanctuary where all fulness dwells, 
the chosen place of God's repose, ascends ever a love 
which is far dearer to the Most Holy than all the loves 
of angels or men. It is the very love by which the 
three persons of the eternal Trinity embrace each other 
in their blissful delight, the love for that which alone 
is lovely, expressed in and through a human hear!:, 
and that the heart of God. O wonderful device of 
the supreme wisdom, thus to build a sanctuary where 
He whose great glory no tongue can truly tell, may be 
worthily magnified, where He may show forth His 
splendor, and receive the adoration which is His clue. 

Before this sanctuary we kneel to-day, and our first 
thought is to rejoice in the unspeakable wisdom of our 
God which hath built such a temple for His own 



26 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



|3rais8. Our whole being is filled with gladness that 
there is one Heart which worthily magnifies His great 
glory, a heart which may speak and act for us, whose 
words and affections may take up our feeble tribute 
and make it acceptable before the throne. The Sanc- 
tuary of the divinity pleads for us. 

And our second thought is the ejaculation of our 
hope that the love which burns so fervently in the 
august temple which the Most High hath built for 
Himself and for us, may be kindled in our breasts. 
How can we, weak as we are, draw so near the infinite 
beauty as to be able to love Him ? What are all our 
hearts with their most fervent affections that He should 
deign to accept them in so intimate a relation as that 
of love ? Yet is there nothing else worthy of our love, 
since we were made in His image, and our souls yearn 
after our great Creator with a thirst He only can satisfy. 
Behold it is the heart of a man which has become the 
sanctuary of the divinity, and that man is our brother 
as well as our God. Our nature in the Word made 
flesh will love for us, and so near to the divinity will 
become our model and our strength. In this fire of 
divine love all our dross shall be burned away, and 
from x^urified hearts our prayer and praise shall ascend 
where, on the lips of our Mediator, they shall not plead 
in vain. Mercy shall descend like the fertilizing beams 
of the sun, and in that light our feebleness shall be- 
come strong, and even " death shall be swallowed up 
in victory," as even here on earth " this corruptible 
puts on incorruption, and this mortal immortality." 1 
1 1 Cor. xv. 53, 54. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 27 



It is not a prophet who appears unto us with a veil 
upon the brightness of his countenance, but the Lord 
Himself with His blessed human face regarding us 
with infinite tenderness and mercy. 

And so "we all beholding the glory of the Lord 
with open face, are transformed into the same image, 
from glory to glory." 1 



1 2 Cor. iii. 18. 



in. 



Heart of Jesus, Temple of the Holy- 
Trinity, have mercy upon us. 

" Bei7tg the brightness of God's glory, and the figure of 
His substance, and upholding all things by the word of His 
power, He sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high." 
— Heb. i. 3. 

rpHE substantial union of the two natures in the 



person of God the Word, hath elevated the hu- 
manity to the throne of the Three Eternal Persons. 
" As the rational soul and flesh are one man, so God 
and man are one Christ ; one by no confusion of sub- 
stance, but by the assumption of humanity into God." 
The Son hath since the incarnation two natures equally 
His own, being " God of the substance of His Father, 
begotten before all ages, and man of the substance of 
His mother, born into the world.'" 1 Where then the 
three eternal and coequal Persons live and reign, there 
is the humanity of the consubstantial and Incarnate 
Word. And as it is the office of the Word to express 
the thought and meaning of the Father and the Holy 
Ghost, so in the Second Person are especially mani- 
fested the ways and works of the incomprehensible 




1 Creed of St. Atkanasius. 



THE DIYIKE SA]S T CTUAKY. 



29 



cleity. "In the beginning was the "Word, and the 
Word was with God, and the Word was God. All 
things were made by Him, and without Him was made 
nothing that was made. In Him was life, and the life 
was the light of men." 1 The incarnation of this Word 
of God was another and most merciful step in the 
great manifestation of the Trinity. For as the fathers 
have taught us, the mystery of Bethlehem reveals more 
wonderfully the nature of God than does the work of 
creation. When the Most High spake by His Word, 
and from nothing the universe sprang into being, and 
the angelic ranks exulting in life sang their morning 
song ; surely the greatness of the Creator was the theme 
of their praise. And when the beams of created light 
from all the varied scenes of peopled space came back 
to the uncreated splendor of the throne, the divine 
agent in this great work might well say, u My heart 
hath uttered a good word : I speak my works to the 
king." 2 " The heavens show forth the glory of God, 
and the firmament declareth the work of His hands. 
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night 
showeth knowledge." 3 

Yet what were these glories in all their brilliancy 
compared to the work of Bethlehem where the "Word 
by whom all things were made," " the brightness of 
God's glory and the figure of His substance," " became 
flesh and dwelt among us ? " Then did' the Almighty 
perform His most wondrous work, and express Himself 
as never before. "The wilderness rejoiced with joy 



1 St. John i. 1-4. 3 Ps. xliv, 1,2. 3 Ps. xviii. 1, 2. 



30 



THE DIVIKE SAtfCTUAKY. 



and praise." The glory of the Lord and the beauty of 
our God were made visible to mortal eyes. 1 " We saw 
His glory, the glory as it were of the only-begotten of 
the Father, full of grace and truth." 2 

Thus, by union of nature as well as by love did the 
humanity of the Son come into the embrace of. the 
Holy Trinity, and "sit on the right hand of the 
majesty on high." And the Sacred Heart, the living 
centre of this wonderful organism, the fountain of the 
precious blood, became the seat of the divine compla- 
cency and the temple of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
Here a building not made with hands was fitly framed 
where not only the light of deity might burn, but the 
mysterious operations and loving embraces of the 
Three Persons might be revealed, adored and magni- 
fied. We know that we are made in the likeness of 
God. " Let us make man, said the Lord, to our image 
and likeness." 3 This likeness to the blessed Trinity is 
found in the soul, whose three powers of memory, un- 
derstanding, and will, in one substance, and in one act, 
are made to glorify the creating hand and show forth 
the similitude of the divine nature^ We become the 
temples of the eternal Three in One, in proportion as 
our three powers, freed from every other service, are 
given to the unchangeable One, and wholly consecrated 
to His praise. Yet all our holiest works and highest 
aspirations will only make us faint images of Him who 
in our nature sanctified the trinity of faculties to the 
unity of God, and from a heart wholly pure, a soul 



1 Isa. xxxv. 1, 2. - St. John i. 14. 3 Gen. i. 26. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



31 



wholly free, set forth the perfections of humanity in the 
presence and sight of the deity. O how beyond all 
knowledge was the likeness of the Holy Trinity pic- 
tured in the perfect soul of Jesus Christ ! The Trinity 
with its three lights in one splendor gazed upon the 
Sacred Humanity, and the Sacred Humanity, in the 
person of the Word subsisting, sent back the glorious 
beams in a tribute of praise. 

The memory of God the Word! O what tongue 
shall speak of this faculty of humanity taken into God 
and lighted up with His knowledge, to whom there 
can be no past nor future. Memory cannot be predi- 
cated of the deity who by one act seeth and knoweth 
all things. Yet when God became man, and assumed 
our nature, He began to be like us, and as man He has 
a past and the exercise of memory. When, like the 
beams of light, only faster than they on His glad mis- 
sion, He obeyed the "eece ancilla" of Mary, and was 
made her child in her sacred womb, then the holy mo- 
ments of His life began. Time to the divine infant 
could not be measured by rolling months or setting 
suns. Yet as to His mother so to Him there was a life 
and a history. And as the clays wore away there came 
memories of moments blissful and sad, sorrowful and 
glorious. There was the embrace of the incarnation, 
when the Godhead first touched the substance of the 
Immaculate Virgin. There were the long months in 
her holy womb, the first sight of her and the world 
with human eyes, the first kiss of His infant lips, the 
many moments of repose upon her bosom. As time 
went on, the days were filled with experiences full of 



32 



THE DI VT2vTE SAXCTUAEY. 



God's love and man's ingratitude. Three and thirty 
years, ending with the agony and the cross, the sepul- 
chre and the resurrection, how full are they with mem- 
ories which no merely human heart could bear ! And 
in heaven, where above all change and shadows the 
Sacred Heart is enthroned, the offering of memory sac- 
rificed to God and sanctified wholly in Him, still goes 
on, a never-ceasing tribute to Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost. Who but God can measure the glory which, 
like incense all divine, ever ascends from this holy tem- 
ple where He dwells ? 

The understanding, too, hath its part in the work of 
praise. For where the divine wisdom and tenderness 
may express themselves to a listening and all-knowing 
intelligence, there are the hymns of thanksgiving 
which God alone can send back to God. That won- 
derful soul of the Incarnate Word, gazing into the 
splendor of the Trinity, and seeing with divine eyes, 
could gather up the secrets o£ the Most High, and be 
nourished by the revelations of the nature and mys- 
terious operations of the Tiiune Being. Our under- 
standings falter and fail when we approach the foot- 
stool of the Creator, for our finite being faints before 
the " consuming fire," and our sense of sin and un wor- 
thiness brings " clouds and darkness around the 
throne " of our Father. To the Sacred Heart came the 
strength of deity to hold it up, and the soul of the 
Man-God has no weakness when it subsists in the per- 
son of the Eternal Son. The beams which would 
quench the fires of the angels shone freely and fully in 
the bosom of the Word made flesh, And from His 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



33 



sinless eyes all clouds rolled away, and the Godhead 
moved and spoke and felt within Him. " The angels 
indeed are spirits, and flaming ministers of fire," but to 
the Son He saith, "Thy throne, O God, is forever 
and ever. Sit on my right hand till I make Thine ene- 
mies Thy footstool." 1 And well had He need to under- 
stand the justice and mercy of the Almighty, as He 
was their reconciliation and expression. In Him u mer- 
cy and truth have met each other, justice and peace 
have kissed." 2 His whole humanity and most loving 
heart were freely offered to the scourges of the Father's 
wrath for our sins, and that most afflicted soul was 
consoled by the sight and touch of the infinite mercy 
to the sinner. Where angels fell down confounded 
and speechless before the sweat of blood and the dark- 
ness of Calvary, His blessed intelligence was ever 
adoring the wonderful ways of divine love. Thus 
does the understanding of the Incarnate Word fill up 
the tribute which the Father asks, and from its depths 
of knowledge send up its song of praise. 

And the will of Christ freely laid in the hands of 
the divine will completes the sacrifice of this temple 
and makes perfect its acceptable worship. "In the 
head of the book it is written of me, that I should do 
thy will, O God." 3 There in the recesses of the Sacred 
Heart, where the beams of divine knowledge shine, is 
the perpetual oblation, and the Trinity reigns as on 
the throne. From the action of this holy will, ascend 
all the affections of gratitude and love and mute sub- 



1 Heb. i. 7-13. 2 Ps. Ixxxiv. 11. 3 Heb. x. 7. 



34 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



mission. There is no worship which God can ask 
which is not here offered ; there is no sacrifice to His 
infinite fulness and all-comprehending greatness which 
is not here made. The angelic wills move faster than 
the rays of the morning, but they cannot move as the 
bright will of Jesus Christ, which is wholly God's. 

Well, then, may the Heart of our Kedeemerbe called 
the temple of the Holy Trinity, as here the Three Per- 
sons make known their attractions and manifest their 
glory, and here the three powers of the soul of God the 
Word unite in one perpetual act of consecration and 
praise. Through the love of this living temple shed 
abroad in our hearts we may hope to learn the 
knowledge of our Creator, and one day to be presented 
before the throne in that celestial " city which hath no 
need of the sun, nor of the moon, for the glory of God 
enlighteneth it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof." 
There is no temple built with hands, M for the Lord 
God Almighty is the temple thereof and the Lamb." 1 



1 Apoc. xxi. 22, 23. 



IV. 



Heart of Jesus, Abyss of Wisdom, 
have mercy upon us. 

" In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge." — E. Coloss. ii. 3. 



unsearchable riches of Christ," can understand the 
place which He occupies in the work of redemption. 
It is not simply that He is our mediator pleading be- 
fore His Father His unequalled merits in our behalf, 
and by His precious blood washing away the guilt of 
our sins. Having taken our nature, He has become 
one of us, by a tie of love and a union so close that 
He Himself compares it to the union of the Three 
Eternal Persons. " Behold, saith He, I and my chil- 
dren whom God hath given me. Wherefore it be- 
hooved Him in all things to be made like unto His 
brethren, that He might become a merciful and faith- 
ful high-priest before God." 1 " The glory which Thou, 
Father, hast given Me, I have given to them, that they 
may be one as we are one, I in them, and Thou in Me, 
that they may be made perfect in one." 2 It pleased 




learned something of "the 



* Heb. ii. 13, 17. 



a St. John xvii. 22, 23. 



36 THE DIVIDE SAKCTUABY. 



the Father that in Him then all fulness should dwell, 
4 'that from that fulness we might receive abundant 
grace." 1 He is the Word and wisdom of the Trinity 
that from the treasure of His knowledge He may com- 
municate to us. As God He is the abyss of wisdom, 
since to His infinite mind all things that are or can be, 
are fully known. In truth, His knowledge is the foun- 
dation of their possibility and the reason of their exist- 
ence. Before the very contemplation of this wisdom 
our finite intelligences are lost in wonder. What shall 
it be when the creature is brought face to face with 
his Creator? Yet when God became man, He took 
our humanity and raised it into union with His divin- 
ity in the union of one personality. To this humanity 
the divine attributes can be ascribed on account of the 
inseparable union of the two natures, which, perfectly 
distinct in themselves, are one Christ. To the soul of 
the Word incarnate is the divine wisdom communi- 
cated, as in the hypostatic union of the two natures 
it gazes upon God and His wondrous ways. But as 
for us men and for our salvation the Son of God de- 
scended from Heaven and became man in the womb of 
the Virgin, so the wisdom of the Eternal Three dwelt 
in Him, that by Him it might, according to our capac- 
ity, be made known to us. And as light drives away 
all shadows, so He became our illumination, by His 
presence and power expelling all darkness from our 
understandings. He is "the true light which enlight- 
eneth every man that cometh into this world." 2 



1 St. John i. 16. 



2 St. John i. 9. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



37 



Not only for us was this light manifested. It was 
the plan of God to "make known His manifold 
wisdom to the principalities and powers in the 
heavenly places through the Church." 1 So in the 
face of Jesus Christ shone " the brightness of eternal 
light, the unspotted mirror of God's majesty, and the 
image of His goodness." 2 " For God, who command- 
ed the light to shine out of darkness, hath shone in 
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the 
glory of God, in the face of Christ Jesus." 3 

The Sacred Heart as the seat of the affections may 
well be called the abyss of wisdom, since the love of 
the Most High wrought the incarnation,, and is 
chiefly expressed to our race by the features^ words, 
and works of the Son made man. " God so loved the 
world as to give His only begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever belie veth in Him may not perish, but have life 
everlasting." 4 The most wonderful wisdom of the 
Trinity, if we may so speak, is found in this mysteri- 
ous love, which so valued our lost humanity, that the 
Second Eternal Person became man to redeem it. As 
far as is our race removed from the divine perfections, 
so far did love impel Him to stoop. From the Infinite 
to the finite did He condescend ; and love alone was 
the guide to the Virgin's womb, and the explanation 
of that humiliation before which the hosts of heaven 
bowed down in amazement. And as in the divine 
essence He had loved man from all eternity, and with 



1 Eph. iii. 10. 

2 Wisdom vii. 26. 



3 2 Cor. iv. 6. 
* St. John iii. 1G. 



38 



THE DIVIDE S A^N"CT CAE Y. 



an infinite fervor, so when He was man as well as God 
the whole current of His divine affections came to 
dwell in the Sacred Heart. There like a hidden fire 
they burned, and like a centre of heat and light 
sent their beams through every portion of the Sacred 
humanity, and eyes and face, hands and feet were 
bathed in the illumination of their splendor. What 
so mysterious or incomprehensible as His affection 
for the sinner ? What so wonderful as His unwearied 
search for the lost sheep, and His untiring patience 
in reclaiming Him. No vileness appals Him, no 
waywardness repels Him, no coldness turns ■ Him 
away. To the Cross He goes, as if He could not 
travel fast enough to take its heavy burden and 
great agony. On the divine altar He descends so 
quickly and lovingly, as if He could not soon enough 
manifest His tenderness and answer to our petitions. 
Is not this love the wisdom of God, who is far 
above all our thoughts in His greatness and in His 
mercies ? Well may the seat of these affections be 
called the abyss of wisdom, since there is no created 
intelligence that can sound the depths of the love, 
which alone explains the incarnation and passion, 
the patience and mercy of Jesus Christ. There 
in the Sacred Heart is all made clear. There before 
God the eternal purpose of the Trinity is unfolded, 
there meet mercy and justice, there righteousness 
and peace kiss each other. Around this unfathom- 
able depth of the divine wisdom, where the infinite 
affections of deity meet in a human heart, angels 
kneel in adoration, and the souls of the just find 



THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 



39 



all their hope. There is no end to this display 
of God's knowledge, where the great heart of the 
Trinity expresses its grace to man, and Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost explain the cause of their wondrous 
condescension. All is revealed as we can prepare our 
eyes to see it, in the tenderness of the Sacred Heart 
of Jesus. 

Convinced of our own great need of mercy, and our 
own vileness in the sight of God, how can we sufB- 
ciently praise the wisdom which planned our redemp- 
tion ? In its infinite depths is our only hope, because 
these unfathomable depths reveal an abyss of love, 
where our guilty consciences may find grounds of 
confidence. From the throne of judgment before which 
we stand appalled, we look to this great throne of 
mercy. There is nothing in us that can deserve the 
divine goodness. We have not kept the graces which 
have so lovingly come to us. Perhaps our baptismal 
raiment is defiled with sin, and our whole life has 
been spent to hinder or frustrate the work of grace. 
Lost sheep we were when He first came to seek us 
in our wilderness, and again and again have we 
wandered from the fold, and preferred the creature 
and sin and sense to the safe shelter of His love. 
What can there be in us that He should still yearn 
after our wretched souls, or so pityingly ask us to 
return to Him ? Is He not wearied with our back- 
slidings and tired of our unstable vows and foolish 
promises? O His Sacred Heart is an abyss of 
wisdom, where the measureless love of God is found. 
While life shall last there is hope. We cannot exhaust 



40 



THE DIVINE SANCTTJAKY. 



His pity. We may wound, we may break His heart ; 
but He still stands with open breast and outstretched 
arms to beg us to return. " Come to me all ye 
that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh 
you." That "abyss of wisdom" shall plead for 
us, that to our feeble wills new strength may be 
given, and that our weak resolves may take hold 
of His omnipotence, and triumph in the future 
battles of our warfare with sin and self and death. 



V. 



Heart of Jesus, Ocean of Goodness, 
have mercy upon us. 

"And there shall be a firmament upon the earth, on the 
tops of the mountains ; above Libanus shall the fruit thereof 
be exalted, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of 
the earth. 

"Let His name be blessed for evermore : His na?ne con- 
tinueth before the sun. And in Him shall all the tribes 
of the earth be blessed : all nations shall magnify HimT — 
Psalm lxxi. 16, 17. 

THE goodness of God is beyond all our power of 
thought. We are confounded by the display of 
His greatness, and we tremble before His justice ; but 
no less are we overwhelmed by what we know of His 
goodness. To understand this attribute of our Creator 
we look into His nature, as far as we have strength to 
see it, and into the outward manifestations of that 
nature towards creatures. In either view we are lost 
in wonder at the immensity of the divine perfections. 
God is goodness itself, and of necessity, as containing 
all things in Himself. Essential holiness He is by 
nature, and true sanctity can only exist where He 
communicates Himself. To be good in truth is to be 



42 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



God, for strictly "no one is good but God alone." 1 
Angels and men are good in another sense only by 
their likeness to Him. Moral goodness is such by con- 
formity to His will, which is the law of action and the 
unchangeable rule of right. 

But from the infinite source of all good have flowed 
streams to make glad the whole creation, visible and 
invisible, material and immaterial. Light material 
and light intellectual illumine the works of His hands, 
and cause them to rejoice. His great heart showeth 
itself outwardly, and the history of creation is but the 
story of His beneficence. For the display of the treas- 
ures of His love, the eternal Trinity hath moved and 
acted on the waste of space. For this die! the Word 
speak the creating command. For this did the co- 
equal Spirit move over the waters of chaos. And if in 
the works of creation and its myriad wonders we gaze 
upon the infinite beneficence of the Almighty hand, 
what shall we say of the still greater mysteries of re- 
demption, in which the blessed Three in one have more 
completely unveiled themselves, manifesting to finite 
intelligences something of their inner life, something 
of that love by which they embrace each other ? The 
ocean which rolls before us its vast waves and un- 
fathomable depths is to us an image of the grandeur 
of its maker. Like the vaster realm of space which 
stands before us in it3 limitless expanse, it is a simili- 
tude of eternity. And if we dare to usurp the feeble 
terms of human language, that we may picture to our- 



1 St. Luke rriii. 19. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



43 



selves the perfections of the infinite Majesty, it is no 
act of irreverence before Him. It is the humble con- 
fession of our impotence, and of His incomprehensible 
greatness. So when we speak of the ocean of His 
goodness, we would represent His unexampled love 
vaster than the mighty deep, and more unfathomable 
than the rolling floods. There is no measure to Thee, 
our God, who art in Thyself and in Thy works beyond 
all our conceptions. 

As we have seen, and as the Holy Ghost will make 
us to know better day by day, the incarnation is the 
fruit and the test of the divine goodness. Infinity can 
do no more. When God became man, and began in 
our humanity the operations of redemption, He was at 
the limit of the bounty of the Trinity. The measure- 
less ocean of goodness poured itself into a human 
frame, walked with human feet, embraced with human 
hands, spoke with human lips, looked out of human 
eyes, and dwelt in a human heart. " There was a firma- 
ment on the earth above the tops of the mountains." 
Far above all the works of the Creator towers the 
beauty of the sacred humanity. Libanus and Tabor 
and Hermon are far below the glory of this firma- 
ment. "And as God made the firmament and called 
it heaven," 1 that in it the starry spheres might roll, 
and the lights of His kindling might burn to show 
forth His praise, so in the manhood of His Son Jesus 
Christ did he unfold the marvels of the new creation, 
and bid His name to be blessed for evermore. He 



1 Genesis i. 8. 



44 



THE DIVIDE SAKCTUAEY. 



alone can reveal the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; 
He alone can open heaven to our ruined race ; " His 
name continueth before the sun," brighter than its 
noonday strength, and unfading in its light. 

The Sacred Heart, wherein are made manifest the 
mercies of redemption, in which all God's goodness is 
made to dwell, is well p resented to us as the limitless 
deep of that beneficence in whose creating and renew- 
ing power we live and hope. "With Thee is the 
fountain of life, and in Thy light shall we see light," 1 
and who but " the Lamb can lead us to the fountains 
of the waters of life ? " 2 And where can He lead us 
but to His own wounded side, whence flowed the 
water and the blood ? There alone can " we draw 
waters with joy out of the Saviour's fountains." 3 
Here is the inexhaustible stream which fertilizes the 
whole city of the Lord, and causes in our once barren 
and desolate earth the fruits of paradise to bloom 
and flourish. Here all the goodness of our merciful 
Saviour dwells and flows forth to save and sanctify 
our souls. God liveth here in the might of His re- 
deeming energy. As the heaven is high above the 
earth, and the depths of ocean are far beneath our 
feet, so is His bounty far beyond all our knowledge. 
It lives, it acts, it beats in the Sacred Heart, and runs 
in the crimson tide of the precious blood. 

What unspeakable consolation, then, is ours, when 
the most attractive attribute of the divine being is so 
near to us, and when the infinite goodness of God has 



1 Psalm xxxv. 10. 



2 Apoc. vii. 17. 



3 Is. xii. 3. 



THE DIYIKE SAKCTUABY. 



45 



chosen to win us by the fervor of a human heart made 
His own ? There by His beauty He draws us to Him- 
self by the cords of man. and like begets like, and love 
goes out to kindle love within our bosoms, and bring 
it back to the great centre of light and life, that our 
human affections may be set on fire of God, and that 
He may be all in all. Before this Sacred Heart burn- 
ing with zeal for our salvation, let us kneel with the 
offering of all we are and all we have. We stand as 
at the shore of a fathomless ocean, and, amazed at the 
infinity of the divine pity, we take courage in the 
length and breadth and depth of our Father's kind- 
ness. Here, if we will kneel with willing minds and 
true sincerity, He will show us what He can be to our 
weary souls, and bind us so closely to His side that 
neither "flesh nor sense, life nor death, can separate 
us from Him." In the ocean of His holiness we shall 
be made holy, and corruption shall flow away before 
the touch of His hand. Mortality shall put on immor- 
tality, and death be swallowed up of life. 



VI. 



Heart of Jesus, Throne of Mercy, 
have mercy upon us. 

" A high and glorious throne from the beginning, is the 
place of our sanctification" — Jeremias xvii. 12. 

r~p HE only hope of sinners is in the infinite com- 



passion of God, since so great is the evil of our 
transgressions that our finite minds can see no way of 
pardon. The malice of a human will which rebels 
against its Maker, can be measured by no created 
intelligence, since only God can fully comprehend 
either His own majesty, or the obligations which 
bind us to obey Him. And even if from what we 
know of the loving kindness of God we could conjecture 
that He would yearn to forgive our offences, we could 
discover no way in which mercy could be reconciled 
with justice, still less discern the means by which the 
defilement of our sins could be washed away. The 
injury to our moral natures which flows from trans- 
gression against the perfect Law of our Creator, is so 
vast and fearful, that human remedies avail nothing, 
and our feeble imaginations sink down in despair. Al^ 
this could be said of one grievous sin, still more of 
many and repeated acts of rebellion. We can bring 




THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



47 



this ruin and devastation into every part of our 
being, and become transgressors by thought, word 
and action, in soul and in body. There is no appeal 
to the justice of our Supreme Lawgiver, for no crea- 
ture can touch the " mountain of a burning fire, and a 
whirlwind and darkness and storm." 1 That justice 
would crush us in its iron grasp, and call for ven- 
geance for faculties of godlike power prostituted to 
shameful sins, for the image of the uncreated beauty 
defaced and broken to pieces. 

And if there is to be a mercy which can reach the 
deep of our miseries, and heal the fatal disease under 
which we sink, it must be far above all our thoughts, 
and its throne must be exalted to the very bosom of 
the Trinity. Love unequalled and incomprehensible 
as the life of the Most High, must hold up the strong 
pillars of that seat where pity dispenses judgment, 
and justice gives way to the voice of pardon. And 
so in the eternal councils of Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, the throne has been prepared from the begin- 
ning. Before the earth was, or any created thing 
had gone forth from the Almighty hand, that seat of 
mercy was foreknown. The changeless perfections of 
God rested upon it; the plastic fingers of the Three 
Eternal Persons formed it ; the life-giving wings of 
the Holy Spirit overshadowed it; the Word spake 
and it was made ; the sweet espousals of the divinity 
and the humanity were celebrated in Mary's womb, 
and it grew to its fulness, and Mercy sat upon its 



1 Heb. xii. 18, 



4:8 



THE DIVIDE SAKCTUARY. 



regal throne. 44 A high and glorious throne from the 
beginning is the place of our sanctincation. " Here 
upon a human heart, beating with all the springs of 
earthly tenderness, the great pity of God's immensity 
came to reign. Within its ample recesses were the 
agencies which work redemption and cast all clouds 
from the Father's face. The darkness of the storm 
with its lurid lightnings passes away, and the sun 
shines brightly and tranquilly over the land of promise. 
"Mount Sion is in view, and the celestial city, the 
heavenly Jerusalem, with its company of many thou- 
sands of angels," 1 and the Lamb slain from the founda- 
tion of the world is revealed, even Jesus, the mediator 
of the New Testament, with the sprinkling of His 
precious blood. By the shedding of that blood which 
runs so fast and so lovingly, are our sins washed away, 
and our debt to the divine justice is paid. 44 Without 
shedding of blood there is no remission," therefore 
was 44 Christ offered once to exhaust the sins of many." 2 
44 Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was 
contrary to us, He hath taken it out of the way, fasten- 
ing it to His cross." 3 Then when the chains of the 
criminal are unbound, and justice no longer holds him 
captive, the Sacred Heart pours out its divine energy, 
and life springs out of death, and holiness from the 
desert and ruin of sin. "He that eateth my flesh and 
drinketh my blood hath everlasting life." 4 " God, 
who is rich in mercy, for His exceeding charity where- 



1 Heb. xii. 22. 
a Heb. is. 22, 28. 



3 Coloss. ii. 14. 
* St. John vi. 55. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY; 4P 

with He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, , 
hath quickened us together in Christ, and hath raised 
us up together, and made us sit together in the heav- 
enly places." 1 The most tender attributes of that 
divine heart whose length and depth no created intel- 
ligence can know, are here placed upon the seat of 
majesty and power. As love commandeth, so is it 
clone. "The Lord God omnipotent reign eth ; the 
marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath 
prepared herself." 2 

With what joy and confidence then shall we pros- 
trate ourselves before this throne, and beg for our • 
repenting souls the grace we so sadly need. Upon the ^ 
most tender and loving of all human hearts sits with . 
regal command the mercy of the eternal Trinity. All 
is to be given out of that infinite fountain which flows < 
at our will, with all the treasures which come from the - 
bosom of God. We have only to ask and we shall 
receive, to seek and we shall find. Only a good will 
is required of us, that can with sincerity present a 
sinner's sorrow before the amazing love of the Redeem- 
er. W e are prostrated by our own vileness, and the 
weight of our unworthiness. We can never sound the 
depths of that vileness, nor know as God knows how 
truly wretched we are, when with wilful hands we 
have brought ruin into the sanctuary of the Holy 
Spirit, and driven out the celestial guest, with all His 
beauty and peace. The lines of our guilt are not half 
so dark to our failing sight as they are to the all-know- 



1 Eph. ii. 4, 6. 



Apoc. xix. G, 7. 



50 



THE DIYI^E SANCTUARY. 



ing vision of our Judge. Yet the pulsations of the 
Sacred Heart are the impulses of the infinite mercy, 
and the love that comes to seek us is the mystery of 
the Trinity on which the raptures of angels and saints 
shall spend themselves for eternity. There is no word 
of reproach, no tone of severity to the contrite. The 
past with its sad record is forgotten, and a bright 
future opens before us. Into the highways and 
hedges, among the briers and thorns of the wilderness, 
goes the good Shepherd, with bleeding hands and feet. 
He has no thought of Himself, though He bear the 
beauty of heaven, and the image of the Father; He 
seeks the wandering sheep, and bears it on His man- 
gled shoulders home. " He bids the angels to make 
high festivity, and " rejoiceth more for that, than for 
the ninety-nine that went not astray." 1 He only asks 
for gratitude and love in return, with a face that 
speaks His sense of our want and the tenderness of 
God. He looks upon us from His chosen throne, to 
win our wayward wills, and to hold them in His hands 
forever. 

Who will refuse His appeal ? Who will deny Him 
the offering of His heart ? Who will hesitate or fear 
to ask for pardon where the affections of the Trinity 
unbosom themselves, and the might of the coequal 
Three flows in mercy? "If your sins be as scarlet, 
they shall be made as white as snow; and if they be 
red as crimson, they shall be white as wool." 2 



1 St. Matt, xviii. 13. 



2 Is. i. 18. 



VII. 



Heart of Jesus, Treasure inexhaus- 
tible, have mercy upon us. 

" Arise, 0 Lord, into Thy resting-place, Thou and the 
ark which Thou hast sanctified. 

This is my rest forever ; here will I dwell, for I have 
chosen it." — Psalm cxxxi. 8, 14. 

"TTTHETHER we look upon the Sacred Heart of 



^ ' Jesus as the place of God's rest, or as the cen- 
tre of the manifestations of redeeming mercy, it is 
indeed a treasure inexhaustible. On the richness of 
this treasure the infinite eyes look with complacency, 
while all around it, the choirs of angels sing canticles 
of praise, and saints gaze with ecstacies of wonder. 
What God is, in all the gladness and wealth of His 
being, He has nowhere so clearly shown, as in this 
resting-place where He has come to dwell forever in 
the ark which He has sanctified. Here has He chosen 
to unfold the beauty which in its full strength no 
mortal eye could look upon, and in all the perfections 
of His divinity to abide. What human tongue can 
tell the glory of the Sacred Heart? What celestial 
minstrelsy shall dare to hymn its attributes, where the 
listening ear of the Word, made flesh takes up the 




52 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



fervor of the unearthly song? As the divine nature 
is in its immensity beyond all our thoughts, so the 
humanity of Jesus Christ transcends all our power of 
knowledge or of praise. We may lift up our devout 
contemplations to the essence of God, and as grace 
may aid us, see how the attributes which flow from 
His necessary being serve to magnify Him before our 
intelligences. Yet each one of these attributes sur- 
passes the limits of our thought, and leads us into 
the bewildering immensity where every created mind 
droops and fails. Who can approach the fountain of 
every perfection, and apprehend the wealth of that 
Being which is of necessity, and hath no bounds 
either of time or place or power. This inexhaustible 
treasure is deity itself with its ever- burning fires, 
its prolific rays of light and beauty, which are the 
joy of the whole universe. " The morning stars 
praised Him together, and all the sons of God made 
a joyful melody," 1 when He laid the foundations of 
the earth, and showed the dawning of the day its 
place. To Him tencleth every intelligence, even as 
light goeth back to the place of its birth, and there is 
no rest for the soul but in the knowledge of His great- 
ness. To know Him is to live eternally. To possess 
Him is to possess all things. 

So when He came to His resting-place, and took 
our nature into union with His divine person, He 
brought the wealth of His being, to dwell in a mortal 
frame, to enrich a human soul, and light up a chosen 



1 Job xxxviii. 7. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



53 



heart. It was the ark which he sanctified, where He 
might abide forever, and display, according to our 
need and capacity, the treasures which from all eter- 
nity had dwelt in the bosom of Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost. From this throne He seeks to display to man 
all that He is in Himself, and in regard of the human 
nature He assumed. Here wells out the spring of life 
which never ceases to flow T , and its inexhaustible streams 
make glad the city of God and fertilize the waste 
places of earth. 

To the intelligence does He first address Himself, as 
there is the sphere of our nobler faculties and the seat 
of command which guides the will. Where the Most 
High is known, He must be loved. There is no 
knowledge like this of our great First Cause. It takes 
up all the powers of our souls and holds them in an 
embrace w 7 hich illumines and sanctifies. Nowhere has 
the Infinite drawn so near to our intelligences as in the 
mystery of the Sacred Heart. The wisdom of the 
love which devised the incarnation has here united 
the terms which seemed to tell of an immeasurable 
division. Infinity joins itself to the finite, and as the 
angels ascended and descended from heaven to earth 
on the mystical ladder of Jacob, so here the created 
touches the eternal. It is not a vision which endures 
for a moment. It is an everlasting union that shall 
endure as long as God Himself. The human lips that 
speak are the lips of God. The inspiration from which 
they speak is the divine nature itself. Every pulsa- 
tion of the Sacred Heart is a new revelation of infinite 
love. Let the redeemed children of men look up to 



54 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



the fountain of the precious blood. " They can hear 
with their ears, see with their eyes, and even handle 
the Word of life." 1 

In no way does the uncreated beauty so wonderfully 
appear as here in the ark which He has sanctified. 
Here saints learn the secrets of that science which is 
taught, not by the schools, by the toil of human wis- 
dom ; but by the inspirations of love. The eye sees 
even the unrevealed glories of the incarnation through 
the Heart of Jesus Christ. 

And where light comes in all its strength, the will 
fails not to respond, and love kindles to an undying 
fire at the view of God's merey. Even the incompre- 
hensible wisdom seems nearer to our finite understand- 
ings than the measureless love which pi anned and 
executes redemption. 

Inexhaustible, indeed, is the pity which seeks our 
low estate, and on the ruins of our sins builds a ternple 
to the Lamb. If every beating of the divine heart 
sheds a new ray upon our intelligence, much more 
does it reveal the infinite tenderness of our Eedeemer. 
Forever and forever does it move to the touch of love. 
Forever does the precious blood flow through it, in 
ardent haste to wash away our stains and restore the 
fallen to innocence. Who can be unmoved at such a 
sight! Well may we say with the apostle, 14 God is 
love." 

And not only is the torrent exhaust-less as it wells 
out of its divine source, but cold hands and ungrateful 



1 I. E. St. John i. 1. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 



55 



hearts cannot quench it, nor cause it to cease to flow. 
He is indeed a broken-hearted King, a man of sorrows ; 
yet is " He a priest forever according to the order of 
Melchisedeck." u The Lord hath sworn, and he will 
not repent." 1 He stands within the veil pointing 
to His open side, and saying, "This is the blood of 
the testament which God hath enjoined unto you." 
M Their sins and iniquities I will remember no more." 2 
Nineteen centuries of denial, neglect, and ingratitude 
have never changed one loving feature of His blessed 
face, nor caused Him to withdraw from the work of 
redeeming us. 

Here, therefore, is our confidence, when, prostrate 
before His mercies, we are overwhelmed by the re- 
membrance of our countless sins, and the consciousness 
of our unworthiness. Not in ourselves is our trust. 
There is indeed nothing in us that can claim the com- 
placency of our long-suffering Lord. If human hands 
could have put out the light of love, long since would 
they have accomplished their work. If the source of 
our mercy were exhaustible, the hands which pierced 
the Sacred Heart have often been ready to quench 
the stream of grace. But God is there, and His all- 
pitying eyes look upon our misery, and from His in- 
finite love and its incarnate fountain, the only stream 
that can wash away our vileness will continue to widen 
its blessed course. Whatever may have been our sin- 
fulness, however many the days of our rebellion, we 
have only to look with true sorrow lor the past to 



1 Hcb. vii. 17, 21. 



2 Heb. ix. 20 ; x. 17. 



56 



THE DIVINE SANCTTJABY. 



this ark of our salvation. The precious blood will 
hasten to cleanse our souls; the Heart of Jesus will 
gladly open to embrace us, and the Treasure inex- 
haustible for man and God will have lasting mere}' 
on us. 



VIII. 



Heart of Jesus, of whose fulness 
we have all received, have mercy 
upon us. 

"Of His fulness we have all received, and grace for 
grace" — St. John i. 16. 

A LL the works of God are for His own great glory ; 
neither can any manifestation of His power wor- 
thily set forth His greatness. Yet in the work of our 
redemption He hath been pleased to so humble Him- 
self that the magnificence of the Infinite is dragged to 
the dust of earth, and displayed in the extent of His 
power of humiliation. " He drank of the torrent in the 
way 1 u He emptied Himself, taking the form of a 
servant;" He " humbled Himself, becoming obedient 
unto death, even unto the death of the cross." 2 Still, 
wherever He works, He comes with the might of God ; 
and all His ways are the steps of the Omnipotent. The 
humiliation of the Incarnation is the mystery which 
the divine mind alone could have conceived, and its 
result the approach of the uncreated to the created, 
and the union of God with man. A finite nature, 



1 Pb. cis. T. 



B Phil, ii, 7, 3. 



THE DITIXE SAXCTUARY. 



wrecked by a weak and sinful will, is restored to the 
image of its Maker, and the majesty of the Most High 
meets the fallen, not only with the kiss of peace, but 
with the embrace of union. The Infinite pours out 
His fulness into a human form and a human heart, 
that from it our empty souls may be filled, and the 
blessed attribute of mercy be glorified in the gifts which 
enrich our nothingness. The u Eternal Father hath 
made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints 
in light, since He hath translated us into the kingdom 
of the Son of His love. For He is the image of the 
invisible God, the first-born of every creature. In Him 
were all things created in heaven and on earth, and He 
is before all, and by Him all things consist. Because 
in Him it hath well pleased the Father, that all fulness 
should dwell, and through Him to reconcile all things 
unto Himself, making peace through the blood of His 
cross." 1 

Thus the fulness of God is found in the man Christ 
Jesus, and its infinitude baffles our understanding, since 
the finite can never comprehend the j^erfections of the 
Infinite. Limitless in length and breadth and depth 
and height is this fulness. It is poured out into a 
created humanity, when, by the power of the Holy 
Ghost. Mary conceives and the Word is made flesh. 
The Sacred Heart is the abode of its mighty los~e acting 
outwardly for the salvation of the elect, and toiling to 
empty itself upon the souls of the redeemed. From 
this fountain, where Mercy sits enthroned, have we all 



1 Coloss. i. 1-2-kO. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 59 

received of the fulness of God. Love pours itself out 
to pardon the sinner, to wash away the dye of guilt, 
and to rehabilitate him in the likeness of his Maker. 
What more can the transgressor ask or dare hope to 
obtain ? The depth of redeeming grace is far beyond 
his most earnest supplications. 

The power to forgive is from God alone, and is found 
in the secrets of His being. Sin against His law is a 
rebellion so great that the human mind can neither 
comprehend its vileness, nor find a way in which con- 
sistently with the divine attributes it maybe pardoned. 
When the Eternal Father goes out to forgive, it is an 
incomprehensible act which comes directly from His 
paternal heart, and shows outwardly how infinite are 
His ways. He alone can reconcile with Himself the 
act which spares His own dear glory, more precious 
than all things created, and makes justice and mercy to 
meet together. Angels at Gethsemane and on Calvary 
trembled at this revelation of God's paternity and its 
dread consequences. He took a human nature, that 
" the chastisement of our peace might be upon Him, 
and that by His bruises we might be healed." 1 Thezi 
the fulness of pardoning love dwelt in His human 
heart, that from thence it might radiate like the joyful 
beams of light to the darkest corners of the earth. 
There is no sin beyond the sphere or power of this 
love, and even they who have sinned the most, need 
only love the more to draw most deeply from this foun- 
tain of life. Here where the Most High has made this 



1 Isa. liii. 5. 



00 



THE DIVIDE SAKCTUAKY. 



magnificent display of His greatness can the poor sin- 
ner kneel in penitence, and the divine attributes with 
which he has to deal will heal his corrupting wounds. 
Grace conies upon grace, where there can be no limit 
to the longings of the Father's pity. The Lamb slain 
on Calvary supplies their hunger and thirst, and " leads 
them to the fountains of the waters of life, where with 
His own hands He wipes away all tears from their 
eyes." 1 

The full tide of redeeming mercy flows about the 
contrite heart, and in its regenerating stream there is 
a new creation. The penitent comes hopefully and yet 
tremblingly to the cross of his Lord. It is his Creator 
who dies ; and the wounds in that bleeding form were 
his own ungrateful work. He nailed his Saviour to 
the wood, and held the spear which pierced that open 
side: yet here is his only refuge. No other lips 
could plead for his pardon, and no other shoulders can 
bear the Father's wrath. He hears the voice of mercy. 
" Thy sins are forgiven thee ; see where I have nailed 
them to My cross ; go and sin no more." Yet how can 
he go with all the dark stains of guilt upon him ! He 
looks upon himself, and the dye of blood cleaves to 
his very soul, while all the dark lines of sin come out 
hi bolder relief in the light of Calvary. More than 
ever does he feel his uncleanness and sigh for that 
cleansing which may wash away his stains and enable 
him to ascend the mountain of the Lord with clean 
hands and a pure heart, and once more to stand among 



1 Apoc. vii. 17. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



61 



the innocent. Behold how here he tastes the fulness 
of the Sacred Heart, and from its rich crimson flood 
sees all his vileness to pass away. Even the leper be- 
comes as white as snow, and the loathsome taint of 
corruption is changed into the bright hue of health 
and purity. 

The fulness of the Sacred Heart works even greater 
wonders. The defaced and broken image of the Holy 
Trinity is restored, and the Eternal Father speaks again 
to His consubstantial Son and coequal Spirit, " Let us 
make this man in our image and likeness," and let him 
reign again among the princes of My people. 1 The 
creating word goes forth, and, as by miracle, " behold 
the old things are passed away, and all things are made 
new." 2 The humanity of the redeeming Word pro- 
duces its own like, and its energy works in the midst 
of our feebleness, that " we may in all things grow up 
in Him, who is the head, until in the unity of faith 
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, we come 
to a perfect man, to the measure of the fulness of 
Christ." 3 

To be like our model, to partake deeply of His life, 
to draw our blood from His veins, and live in Him, 
until He is the breath we breathe, and the inspiration 
of our every thought and work, this is the glory of the 
New Covenant. " I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in 
Me." 4 Where the Life liveth, can there be any limit 
to growth, to transformation, to beatitude? By the 



1 Ps. cxii. 

2 2 Cor. v. 17. 



3 Eph. iv. 13, 15. 

4 Gal. ii. 20. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



very necessity of its intrinsic activity, the fulness of the 
Sacred Heart must work its miracles of grace. It has 
made the sparkling crowns of the saints ; it has im- 
printed the form and features of its Love upon the 
virgins and confessors of the faith ; it has wrought its 
stupendous marvels upon the soul and body of the 
spotless queen of heaven. Of its fulness have we all 
received. There is the gentle glow of the twilight and 
the faint tinge of the dawn. There is the gold, azure 
and purple of the horizon, and the full flood of meridian 
glory. Yet in every beam of the light, the same 
blessed fountain, according to our strength or deserts, 
pours out its sanctifying rays. There is no end to 
its transformations but the limit of our wills or 
desires. 

Gratitude to our patient and mighty Saviour gives 
strength and boldness to our petition. It enters within 
the veil, where with our merciful high-priest we dwell. 
u The Lord hath sworn and He will not repent." He 
will never disown His own work nor turn from the 
face of His Son in whom He is ever well pleased. The 
mercy which has crowned our days will ever plead 
before the supreme majesty, that its fruit may fail not, 
but bloom to an eternal harvest. 

" Because His soul hath labored, He shall see and be 
filled, and therefore shall He divide the spoils of the 
strong." 1 He shall carry on to the end His loving 
strife with our souls, aud the Crucified shall make 
known His omnipotence. Because Thou hast been so 



1 Isa. liii. 11, 12. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



63 



long-suffering and gracious to me, Thou wilt never fail 
me; because Thy pierced Heart is an ever-flowing 
fountain of divine love, its fullness will support my 
nothingness, and have mercy upon me. 



IX. 



Heart of Jesus, our Peace and our 
Atonement, have mercy upon us. 

" For He is cur peace, who hath made both one, breaking 
down the middle wall of partition, that He might make the 
two in Himself into one new man, making peace." — Ephes. 
ii. 14, 15. 

" (~^\ OD so loved the world that He gave His only 
begotten Son, that whosoever belie veth in Him 
may not perish, but have life everlasting." 1 These are 
the words of the Son of God Himself when He would 
explain to a master in Israel the mysteries of the incar- 
nation and the regeneration. How can man defiled by 
sin,, original and actual, ever be reconciled to his 
Creator ? He came from His hands spotless and great, 
with powers which could only rest in the Infinite, and 
with a will which could give merit and reward to that 
rest. Against all he sinned, and turned from the great 
source of life and bliss. There is no way by which 
this great wrong can be repaired by the forces of nature. 
On the side of God it is an injury offered by a created 
will to His infinite attributes, and He only can com- 
prehend the true nature of that injury. On the side of 



1 St. John iii. 16. 



THE DIVINE SANCTI7AKY. 



65 



man it is a loss of an infinite good and a burden of 
guilt demanding the utmost punishment. Sin original 
in the first head of the race lost him the divine favor, 
and the supernatural graces to which in justice he 
could never have title. Sin actual is his own work, to 
which neither the power of temptation nor the force of 
passion constrained him. God was very near to him 
in the days of his innocence ; so near that He called 
him His son, and embraced him as a friend. Now the 
wall of partition is high as heaven and harder than 
adamant. In a blessed sense God and man were one. 
Now the distance between them can be measured by 
no human intelligence, and the clouds of divine wrath 
hang like a funeral pall on the heart and conscience of 
the sinner. Who shall be the mediator in this sad 
catastrophe of man, or bring peace by the offer of an 
unmerited pardon ? Who shall put upon himself the 
robe of mercy, and stand before the unsheathed sword 
of justice? Who shall dare to speak of peace where 
enmity is so terrible ; and whose hands can break down 
the dark wall of separation ? 

It is not in the finite mind to conceive of any mode 
of reconciliation. The angels who sinned neither 
hoped for an atonement nor imagined the possibility 
of an intercessor before the Majesty they had pro- 
voked. Glorious intelligences, by one fall they pros- 
trated themselves into the abyss of despair. God 
never turned His enmity from " their chains of ever- 
lasting darkness." 1 Before the ruin of the first Adam, 



1 St. Jude i. 6. 



66 THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



Deity and humanity were at an incomprehensible dis- 
tance ; but when that ruin was completed, the light 
uncreated seemed to go up to the infinite heights, and 
to hide itself in the clouds of vengeance. 

The same sad story of ruin has too often repeated 
itself when the children of the regeneration born after 
the image of the incarnate Word have fallen by wilful 
mortal sin into a darkness and guilt greater than that 
of our first father. Nearer to God than he, by the 
bands of a real relationship to the Second Adam ; par- 
takers of His life and His flesh, they have cast off the 
bond of union to the Most Holy, and have made them- 
selves His enemies. Our first parents sinned not against 
the Crucified, nor profaned the flesh of God made man. 
Well may we ask, Who shall roll away the stone from 
this sepulchre of death? Who shall stand again in 
the way of justice, and speak peace where our guilty 
lips have determined to declare lasting enmity ? The 
partition wall is deeper now. It is as high as the 
heavens, who can break it down ? Who can be our 
peace and atonement ? Who can be found " to preach 
peace to them that were afar off, and to them that 
were nigh ? " 1 

There is only one answer to these sighs of our fallen 
humanity ; and the voice that speaks is the voice of 
God whom we have offended, and yet the voice of a 
man like unto ourselves. It is the voice of one who 
took our nature, that in it He might bear the full 
punishment of our sins ; and because God as well as 



1 Eph. ii. 17. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



67 



man might stand unterrified before the lash of the 
divine vengeance. It is a voice so full of sympathy 
and tenderness, that in it the accents of an incompre- 
hensible pity resound like celestial music in the sin- 
ner's ears. No created sweetness could tune the melody 
of that voice, which touches the depths of human feel- 
ing more than song of angel or seraph. It bears the 
might of the Creator, and in its omnipotence the gen- 
tleness of divine love. Directly from the heart of 
Jesus does it sound. " I am Love incarnate ; lost and 
ruined soul ; I am thy peace and thine atonement. In 
Me are God and man united. I am as truly man as I 
am truly God. I have paid the penalty due to thy many 
transgressions. The two are one in Me, and the wall 
of partition is gone forever. There is no trace of its 
foundations where I stand in the sunlight of the new 
day, speaking peace, peace that flows from pardon, 
peace that passes all understanding, peace that comes 
in My blood from My open side. 4 Who shall lay any- 
thing to the charge of God's elect ? It is God who 
justifieth, who is he that shall condemn ? m The bit- 
terness of iniquity is passed away, like waters that 
have rolled to the sea of love and are lost in its 
depths. 

So speaks the tender Heart of Jesus, bearing by its 
cxhaustless patience and sympathy the full burden of 
our sorrows, and holding up the bleeding humanity of 
the Son of God, when, in obedience to His love, the 
lightnings played upon it, and the terrors of the 



1 Rom. viii. 33, 34. 



68 



THE DIVIKE SANCTUAKY. 



Eternal were unmasked in their full power. The 
Heart of the Mediator held Him up, and He shrunk 
not back, neither from the arrows of the Father's 
wrath, nor from the more cruel shafts of man's ingrati- 
tude. Nothing less than such a love, ever acting and 
ever speaking, could have carried Him through His 
great atonement. Angels in Gethsemane came with 
their drooping wings to speak celestial words of com- 
fort. They stood without the fathomless deep of love 
which alone could sustain His broken humanity when 
the red drops like water, and the tears were the gush- 
ing of the precious blood. The Heart spoke even then 
of peace, when all conflicts should be passed and the 
eternal day of the just should dawn in the new para- 
dise. It spoke of peace to the suffering humanity 
which should so soon ascend to the unapproachable 
glory and be locked in the embrace of Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost. It spoke of " peace to the contrite, 
deliverance to the captives, sight to the blind, healing 
to the bruised, in the acceptable year of the Lord." 1 
Here is the great conquest of love. It draws down 
the tenderness of the Infinite to the miseries of man. 
It conquers the weak and wayward will of the crea- 
ture, and lifts it to the royal will of the Most Holy. 

So may we hope to be made one with our too often 
offended Lord ; for " our peace and atonement " has 
power to cast away every shadow of enmity, and to 
draw to Himself the souls He pardons and sanctifies. 
No trace of darkness shall be left when He shall come 



» St, Luke iv. 19. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



69 



to make us wholly His own, when in the embrace of 
union two shall be made one, and the nuptial song shall 
be heard in our souls. Weakness falls away in the 
arms of omnipotence, and light which dwells in God 
comes to the place of His rest. " In My Father's housa 
are many mansions." There the Uncreated Unity tri- 
umphs and the Heart of the Creator speaks, " Father, 
I will that where I am they also whom Thou hast 
given Me may be with Me ; and the glory which Thou 
hast given to Me I have given to them, that they may 
be one, as we also are one ; I in them, and Thou in Me, 
that they may be made perfect in one." 1 

"Who, then, in these days of our warfare and pilgrim- 
age, shall measure the power of this prayer? Love 
itself pleads to Love, and we hold the unshaken hope 
which is the evidence of the things unseen and the 
things that shall be. And ever as before the throne, 
so in the divine Eucharist speaks the voice whose 
blessed refrain no loud noise of earth nor sadder cries 
of sin can silence. " Peace I leave with you, My peace 
I give unto you : not as the world giveth clo I give 
unto yoru Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it 
be afraid." 2 

The Heart of Jesus must have mercy upon us. It is 
its nature. The red torrent which gushes through it 
is the unrestrained tide of love. It is our peace and 
our atonement. In its serene recesses we hide our 
nothingness. It is the blessed home where we hope 
to know and enjoy our God forever. 



1 St. John xvii. 21, 24. 



2 St. John xiv. 27. 



X. 



Heart of Jesus, Model of all Virtues, 
have mercy upon us. 

" Take up My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, because I 
am meek and humble of heart ; and you shall find rest to 
your souls" — St. Matt. xi. 29. 

~TTTHEN God was pleased to become man, it was 



* ' His will to drink the cup of humiliation, and 
to despise the glory of the world. Not with the sound 
of a trumpet nor the acclaims of regal splendor did the 
Most High introduce His Son into the world. Bethle- 
hem and Nazareth are far above the earthly sphere of 
the great, and only pure eyes can see " the king in His 
beauty," 1 or discern the land which lies so far away 
from the proud and sensual. Yet in the preparation 
of the humanity which He was to assume, the Word 
by whom all things were made put forth His unequalled 
strength, and from His glowing mind the splendor and 
crown of the creation proceeded. Mary even, from her 
lofty knowledge of God, fell clown confounded at the 
greatness of the work of the incarnation. The fruit of 
her womb was an ever-increasing revelation to her of 




1 Isa. xxxiii. 17. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 



71 



the beauty of the Most High. When Gabriel an- 
nounced to her the wonderful message, and the over- 
whelming power of the Holy Ghost overshadowed her, 
and lifted her to an ecstacy before which all created 
things fled away, then she thought within herself what 
manner of man this should be. As the clays passed on 
and the God-Man within her drew nearer and nearer to 
her ; her glory grew with His strength, and her wisdom 
with the child of her womb. On flights of holy con- 
templation did her soul journey in those wondrous 
hours, and long seemed the time until she saw with 
her eyes the " brightness of the excellent glory and the 
figure of the Father's substance." 1 Then as to none 
other did He look upon her, and from the filial heart 
of a child awoke all the chords of adoring affection. 
He drew her glad and loving soul ; He transported her 
pure nature. He displayed to her, as no one else 
could see it, the loveliness of the Godhead ; and so 
bound her will in His, that as the beatific vision chains 
the longing gaze of the Saints, so He held her whole 
being to His winning eyes and heart. Day after day 
told of knowledge. It was not the firmament opening 
hour by hour new glories of the Creator. It was the 
Creator Himself. "The king had brought her into 
His store-rooms." The palace of His splendor was her 
home. His voice ever echoed in her ears, " Arise, make 
haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come. 
Come where the flowers have appeared in our land, 
and the fig-tree hath put forth her fruit." 2 



1 Heb. i. 3. 



2 Canticles, ii. 10-13. 



T2 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



Thus it pleased the Most Holy to make known His 
glory, to come to the race He redeemed, with the dis- 
play of loveliness no true soul could resist, and u with 
the cords of Adam to draw them, and to hold them by 
the bonds of love." 1 The whole dispensation of grace 
is in this revelation of the Incarnate God, by intrinsic 
beauty, by attraction, by union. The humanity of the 
eternal Word could show forth the perfections of the 
deity, and reveal in human acts, which were at the 
same time divine acts, the limitless grace of the Incom- 
prehensible. The bright tire of the deity shone in the 
humanity without impairing its integrity or quenching 
its will. So around the "Word made flesh kneel for- 
ever the throngs of the Saints ; they kneel to adore 
their Master and King ; they kneel to draw from His 
life ; they kneel to know Him and to become like Him. 
His human virtues were the beams of the uncreated 
light which shone to illumine the dark ruins of man's 
sin. O how humbly, how patiently for three and 
thirty years of utter abnegation, did He fulfil His 
heroic course ! Not a trial which could touch the un- 
fallen Adam was ^spared His soul. And all the more 
keen was the pang because it came to the purity of 
God and touched His sense of innocence and the divine 
majesty. Faith, patience, hope, love, humility beyond 
all comprehension were pictured in His form, and face, 
and motion. They spoke in words; they rejoiced in 
smiles; they sorrowed in tears. The depths of the 
divine tenderness were broken up in His great heart, 



1 Osee xi. 4. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUAHY. 



73 



and struggled for an outward manifestation to those 
He loved. And while He held the universe in the h ol- 
io w of His hand, gave by His breath life to all that 
lived, and listened to the rapt praises of Cherubim 
and Seraphim, all lowly and unconsciously did He 
hide Himself from human gaze, and cast aside the 
honor of men. The deep peace of his ever-active 
heart was like the tranquil river of the celestial city, 
whose undisturbed waters mirror forth the rest of the 
Infinite. Omniscient in knowledge, omnipotent in 
power, He lay as a helpless child in Mary's arms, and 
was obedient to her word. He put Himself into the 
hands of His enemies, that they might work their will 
upon Him as if He were the creature subject to their 
power. He took the yoke upon Him which few can 
bear, the yoke of complete self-oblation, the sacrifice 
of every right, of every dignity, of every affection, even 
the right to His own body and soul. Why did he not 
win all hearts? Who could look upon His gentleness, 
His sacrifice of self, His wonderful humility, and not 
yield to their mighty attractions? Alas, there are eyes 
that see not and ears that hear not. To such ever the 
beauty of God is unveiled in vain. They cannot be 
drawn by love whose hearts are hardened by the idol- 
atry of avarice, or corrupted by the plague of sensuality. 
The cross of Calvary is their answer to the touching 
display of the divine tenderness. Yet let man wander 
as he may and persevere in darkness, here is the only 
hope of his restoration. Fallen and wretched as he is, 
the model of the perfect manhood stands before him. 
It is a living picture of what grace would make Him, 



74 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUAKY. 



and a humanity which has the power to move by its 
loveliness and to quicken by its touch. The Sacred 
Heart of the Redeemer is the intercessor before the 
throne ; and there in accents of command go up the 
atoning perfections which demand our pardon. Let 
us ask of this all-pitying heart to draw us clay by day 
to itself, and far away from the deceits of sense. If its 
attractions can be brought face to face with our un wor- 
thiness, the good that is in us will be wakened into 
life. From that sight new desire for virtue will be 
kindled in our souls, and the overwhelming sense of 
our defects will lead to new struggles for the crown of 
holiness. Deep crieth unto deep, says the prophet ; 
and it is the deep of our nothingness which crieth unto 
the deep of the divine fulness. What thanks have we 
to render to our glorious Maker, who has found a way 
to repair our broken nature, and with skilful hands to 
restore its harmonies to the song of obedient praise ? 
The Model of virtue which His unfailing justice asks, 
stands before us in the meek and lowly Jesus. The 
bleeding heart is the inspiration of His words, and the 
language of its tender invitation is, " Learn of Me, for 
I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest 
to your souls." There can be no rest in the things of 
sense for which the soul bearing the divine image can 
have no lasting desire. The flowers bloom for the 
insect of a day ; but unfading foliage is for the immortal 
ushered into life that it may return to the mind that 
gave it birth. Weak as we are, and far as we are from 
the purity of our Creator, hope lifts its ever-blessed 
banner and guides -us on. Now we are drawn by the 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



75 



beauty of our King ; and behold He is our mediator 
going before us to plead our cause, and walking with 
us to guide our steps to the mountain of holiness. 
" He is meek and lowly of heart." " The bruised reed 
He shall not break, and smoking flax He shall not ex- 
tinguish ; till He send forth judgment unto victory." 
Our many sins are washed away ; our infirmities are 
forgotten; godlike fruits take deathless root in our 
souls when the " Heart of Jesus, model of all virtues," 
deigns to have mercy upon us. 



XL 



Heart of Jesus, infinitely loving, 
and infinitely worthy of love, 
have mercy upon us. 

11 My Beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thou- 
sands. " 

li His left ha?id is tinder my heady and His right hand 
shall e??ibrace me" — Canticles v. io ; ii. 6. 

rp HE depths of the Sacred Heart are the depths of 



the divine love, since here is the heart of God, 
and the seat of the mercy which wrought our redemp- 
tion. God is in every way incomprehensible, and the 
nearer we approach Him, the more are we confounded 
by His immensity. The most glorious angels who are 
around the steps of His throne, veil their faces, and, 
prostrate, chant their unceasing Sanctus. Yet the 
mystery of all mysteries is His love for man, so far 
beneath Him in nature, and so obnoxious to Him by 
sin. The apostle tells us that God is love, by which 
he means to express that love is as wonderful as the 
divine nature, and that we can no more comprehend it 
in its reality and immensity than we can comprehend 
Gocl. There is infinitude in love, which in its fulness 
can only be expressed by deity ; and this infinite force 
of love can only spend itself upon a divine object. 




THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 



77 



God is infinitely loving, and can only thus love the 
infinite; and so in the circle of the ever-adorable 
Trinity flows the force of the supreme tenderness. 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost embrace each other and 
their own perfections in unity of essence. The attrac- 
tion is equal to the love which is infinite, in the one 
act w T hich sees and knows the divine perfections. 
Here no created intelligence can enter. Xo finite 
mind can know what depth of love there is in God, 
nor ho w worthy He is of our affections. He who re- 
sponds to an infinite love possesses an infinite attrac- 
tion. 

But the tenderness of the Creator is spent upon the 
work of His hands ; and love coming from the un- 
created charity to creatures which exist, and live, and 
are intelligent by reason of this divine fire, is far above 
all our power of knowledge. We can understand how 
God should love Himself by reason of the immensity 
of His perfections, though the unfathomable ocean roll 
before us with its inscrutable depths. But why the 
tender affection of which the divine beauty is alone 
worthy, should spend itself on such as w T e are by 
nature, and still worse by the prevarication of our 
own wills, is such a revelation of mercy that it baffles 
our intelligences. In all that exists there is the image 
of the eternal and necessary existence. In the life of 
spirits which can know and will, there is the likeness 
of the Omnipresent and Omniscient, whose immensity 
pervades all things by the force of being as well as of 
knowledge. And so far we can follow the creating 
mind to the love which He bears towards that which 



78 



THE DIYIXE SAXCTLJABY. 



is by virtue of His will, which He has brought out of 
possibility to actual existence by the exertion of His 
power. All speak of the hand which creates, and 
show forth some faint likeness of the Infinite, and 
declare to all intelligences His glory. So in the rnorn- 
iog of the world, " God saw all the things that He had 
made, and they were very good." 1 

Redemption, however, exhibits in another and more 
wonderful light the tenderness of the divine heart. 
Here free wills have interfered with the work of crea- 
tion, have marred its beauty, and placed themselves in 
opposition to the Infinite. A ruin has been wrought 
as incomprehensible to our intellects as is the mystery 
of finite being. For who but God can measure the 
evil of sin which rebels against Him and all His attri- 
butes, and bids defiance to His power? That the 
heart of God should go out towards the lost and fallen, 
who in their misery are obnoxious only to the terrors 
of justice, is a new display of patience and mercy wor- 
thy only of the infinitude of His nature. He who 
creates, repairs the losses of created wills. He who 
loves infinitely, comes to the rescue of the fallen. Faith 
teaches us how this reparation is made. He against 
whom we have sinned takes our nature and becomes 
Man. He takes a human body and soul, that as man 
He may pay our debt, and by nature God and man, 
may reconcile us in His one person. There are depths 
here which no angel can sound. The divine humanity 
of the Son of God heals that which it touches, and re- 



1 Gen. i. 31. 



THE DIVIDE SAKCTUARY. 79 



places it in the glory of the Highest. The New Crea- 
tion speaks of a more blessed morning than the dawn 
of paradise, since there stands before us not Adam, a 
living soul on the soil of Eden, but the "Word made 
flesh." Heaven opens wide its gates, and the Deity 
itself is accessible through Christ, whose humanity be- 
comes our life, the principle of our sanctification, of 
our resurrection, of our glorification. The love which 
is God's glory and the offspring of His inscrutable 
beauty, comes to dwell and live in the human heart of 
the man Christ Jesus. Shall this love ever fail, or cease 
to act with divine energy ? The Humanity itself is our 
pledge. Bethlehem and Calvary and the face of Mary 
our Mother are our sureties. The Heart itself has been 
pierced, and the hands and feet can never forget the 
nails that held them to the saving cross. The love of 
our Jesus is infinite. His heart is the treasure of our 
hopes, and our safe refuge from the face of every 
enemy. 

And as this Sacred Heart is infinitely loving, so is it 
infinitely w T orthy of our love. It bears the attractions 
of God to us in their most winning form. It presents 
the immensity which bewilders our understanding, 
robed in the tenderest dress. It is God who looks 
upon us, and moves to us, and touches us, but it is God 
under the attribute of love. Sinai with its clouds and 
pillars of fire passes away from our vision, and the 
thunders of a violated law cease to be heard. Justice 
sheathes its sword before the broken Heart of God's 
only Son, in whom He is well pleased, and Mercy speaks 
with all the attractions of deity. All the loveliness of 



80 



THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 



the uncreated beauty reveals itself here, and draws the 
willing soul to its firm and everlasting embrace. He 
w 7 ho became man by love, triumphs on the cross by love, 
and reigns in the bosom of the Incarnate Word, there 
to " draw all things unto Himself." Here the Re- 
deemer displays His attractions, where love begets love, 
and like produces like, and the Most High draws most 
near to man. The Sacred Heart may w T ell be called 
the centre of the world redeemed, as from its abysses 
flow the streams of grace, and on its vital force de- 
pends the health of the regenerate race. Here the 
adorable Trinity makes known His condescension, and 
the Word Incarnate vindicates to angels and archangels 
the prodigality and humiliations of Calvary. If God 
be infinitely worthy of love where He reigns in light 
inaccessible before ministering cherubim and seraphim, 
surely to us He is even more to be loved, where in a 
human heart He opens, as we may learn to compre- 
hend, the attractions before which the thrones and do- 
minions of heaven are speechless in ecstacy. Here He 
speaks in a language all our own, and renews a com- 
munion more blessed than that of Eden, where our first 
father walked in familiar speech with his Maker. 

Who can resist the force of this redeeming love ? It 
pours out mercy as from a perennial fountain, and 
where justice would fail to break the bonds of crea- 
tures and the ties of nature, the Sacred Heart prevails. 
It draws to itself all that is -pure and noble in our hu- 
manity, and ravishes the will by its sweetness. Created 
love puts on the fire and purity of God, and runs with 
the angelic swiftness to the bosom of its Redeemer, 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



81 



where it may rest without fear of change until it finds 
that which it desireth, and wakes up in the new life of 
its Beloved. There "chosen out of thousands" He 
shall give to the soul that sought Him its eternal rest. 
The arms that bring home the wandering sheep are its 
repose for ever. " His left hand is under my head, 
and His right hand shall embrace me." O Heart infi- 
nitely loving and infinitely lovely, the light of our 
darkness and hope of our pilgrimage, in the infinite 
depths of thy tenderness pity our weakness, hear the 
sighs of those who seek Thee, break all the bonds that 
keep them from Thine embrace, and in Thy royal grace 
have mercy upon us. 



XII. 



Heart of Jesus, Fountain of water 
springing up into everlasting life, 
have mercy upon us. 

" The water that I will give him, shall become in him a 
fountain of water springing up into life everlasting" — 
St. John iv. 14. 

XT has pleased our blessed Lord to redeem us at an 
infinite cost, and in this wonderful work He has 
shown the immensity of His divine nature. To all 
our needs has He condescended, and even far beyond 
all our hopes has He stooped. From every fear He 
hath delivered us, and every sigh of our nature He 
hath heard. " It behooved Him in all things to be 
made like unto His brethren, that He might become a 
merciful and faithful high-priest before God, and a 
propitiation for the sins of the people." 1 So com- 
plete and perfect is His salvation, that the redeemed 
race have even gained by Adam's fault, and will 
wear brighter crowns than those the unfallen man 
could have won in Eden. " Where sin abounded, 



1 Heb. ii. IT. 



THE DIVIDE SAXCTTJARY. 



83 



grace did more abound." 1 The sonship of our first 
father was a faint shadow of that wonderful tie by which 
through the humanity of Christ we become really the 
children of God, and are made "partakers of the 
divine nature." 2 Fallen from innocence by sin, 
original and actual, the first sight or knowledge of 
God produces in our souls the deep sense of our 
uncleanness. We must be washed from our defile- 
ment, or the face of the Creator can never be to us 
the face of a father. Infinite purity cannot hold com- 
merce with vileness, nor can holiness consort with 
iniquity. Deep shame will cover the eyes of the 
sinner, and he will shrink from the consuming fire, 
whose searching power he cannot endure. There must 
be a fountain whose waters shall have power to 
cleanse the leprosy of sin, and restore to us our 
innocence, that the shadows of accumulated guilt 
may melt away, and the lines of sorrow disappear 
from our moral and spiritual being. Our fallen 
nature will sink into the depths of death, and soul 
and body separated from God will cease to live. 
As the distance of the creature from the Creator 
increases, so death advances with rapid power to hold 
dominion over all our faculties. " In Him we live, and 
move, and are," 3 and the life for which we are destined 
is not the life that ends with time, since " we are the 
offspring of God," and born to partake of the splen- 
dors of His eternity. The vile and the dying look up 
to their Redeemer for cleansing and the quickening 



1 Rom. v. 20. 2 2 St. Peter i. 4. 3 Acts xvii. 28. 



84 



THE DIVIDE SAXCTUARY. 



power which will awaken them in a new birth, and 
bring them back to the bosom of their Father. The 
thirsty soul longs for a fountain of living water which 
shall spring up on the desolate earth to refresh and 
renew the wasted energies of the returning pilgrim. 
It must bring the power of the precious blood to wash 
away every trace of our defilement, and sparkle with 
the creating force of Him who alone "is Life, and the 
light of men." 1 On its crystal drops must flow purity 
and superhuman strength, and "the Spirit, the water, 
and the blood must here give their testimony " 2 to the 
completeness of the new creation. As Adam came 
from the hand of God, worthy in his innocence to be 
called the son of the Highest, so from the fountain of 
everlasting life, the sinner shall come freed from the 
spirit of bondage, and crying out with the impulses 
of the regenerate nature, " Abba, Father." " The first 
man, Adam, was made into a living soul ; the last 
Adam into a quickening spirit.' 1 3 And as Life begets 
life, and strange beauty blooms among the dead, so 
the fountain of grace begets thirst, and the soul arising 
from the corruption and stupor of sin, longeth and 
fainteth for the courts of the Lord, whence cometh all 
its sweetness. Life attracts the living, as star after 
star shining with reflected glory, bears on its way to 
its central sun. "The corruptible puts on incorrup- 
tion, and the mortal puts on immortality, until death 
is swallowed up in victory." 4 Such is the plan of 



1 St. John i. 4. 

2 I. E. St. John v. 8. 



3 1 Cor. xv. 45. 

4 1 Cor. xv. 53, 54. 



THE DIVIKE SANCTUARY/. 



85* 



salvation fully commensurate with our needs, and 
worthy of the divine munificence. God becomes man 
that in His human nature He may work this wondrous 
transformation, and in His own person communicate 
the life which He is, to the fallen and the dying. The 
stream which cleanses the sinner, is His own precious 
blood, and there is no vileness which it cannot wash 
away. The new life which He gives to the children of 
His adoption, by virtue of a real and wonderful union 
to His humanity, lifts them above every power of 
decay or death, to the likeness of the Unchangeable. 
There is no more that the Infinite can do when thus 
He gives Himself. The old man passes away and the 
new man appears with all His redeeming energy. 
The principle of life and salvation is ours, and " be- 
cause Christ liveth we also live." 1 The Life passeth 
beyond the scene of time, and the fountain of water 
springeth up in the new Eden, where lie sitteth on 
the right hand of God. " When He who is our Life 
shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in . 
glory." 2 

The Sacred Heart of the God-Man is well-called the 
source of this fountain which springeth up into ever- 
lasting life, since here the infinite power to cleanse and 
quicken the lost finds its seat and redeeming throne. 
Here beats the love of God to man; here with its 
mighty pulsation flows the most precious blood 
through every fibre of the divine humanity. Here 
mercy waits, and here God meets the creature return- 



1 St. John xiv. 19. 



2 Col. iii. 4. 



66 



THE DIVOTE SAXCTUAKY. 



ing to His hand, and from His own prodigality pours 
out " tlie waters of salvation from the Saviour's foun- 
tains." 1 With royal munificence, love and life flow 
together towards the outcast, and from the darkness 
of the sinner's exile, the stream returns to its source, 
and bears the wanderer home, where past rebellion is 
forgotten, and the pilgrim finds an enduring rest on 
the bosom of Incarnate Mercy. Infinite is the power 
of Jesus to heal every wound, and cure every malady ; 
and the tenderness of redemption leaves the work to 
the Sacred Heart whose every motion is in far-reaching 
gentleness. Here oppressed with our load of shame 
may we come, and patience will have its perfect work 
in our recovery. Even the memory is purified by the 
waters of this divine fountain, until the shadows of 
fear pass away, and the soul rests secure and unterri- 
fied in the arms of the divine goodness. " Our sins 
and iniquities shall be remembered no more." u Thou 
shalt also forget thy misery, and remember it only 
as waters that are passed away. And brightness like 
that of the noonday shall aiise to thee : and when thou 
shalt think thyself consumed, thou shalt arise as the 
day-star." 2 

Death has its sceptre and works mightily in the 
land of change and decay. Light after light of human 
kindling goes out, and the grave with its gloom draws 
near. Yet they Tvho drink of the living water shall 
never die. They who live upon the Sacred Heart are 
nourished for a day which has no evening. The 



1 Is. xii. 3. 



» Job xi. 16, IT. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 



87 



principle of life is theirs, and far above all shadows 
they live and grow in the sight of the Invisible. 
The love that came to them undeserved, and often 
unsought, holds them in its strong embrace. The 
stream of life flows around them. The water and the 
blood bear witness to their part in the justifications of 
the Saints, and the Heart from which wells out the 
redeeming fountain cries out for mercy and grace. 
The voice which speaks with the pulsations of the 
precious blood is heard, where God's greater glory 
is magnified, and where the sinner is transformed day 
by day into the image of his Lord, until he shall 
see as he is seen, and know as he is known, until 
the fountain of Bethlehem and Calvary shall spring 
up into the changeless river of life, which makes 
glad the celestial city of the just. 



XIII 



Heart of Jesus, in which the Father 
is well pleased, have mercy upon 
us. 

"Behold, a voice from heaven, saying: This is My be- 
loved Son, in whom I am well pleased." — St. Matt. iii. 17 ; 
xvii. 5. 

THE solemn recognition of the Incarnate Word by 
the adorable Trinity took place at the baptism of 
our Lord in the Jordan. There, after thirty years of 
retirement, He came to His forerunner, and asked of 
him the ministration of his office. And when St. John 
would have stayed Him, saying, " I ought to be bap- 
tized by Thee, and comest Thou to me? " He replied, 
u Suffer it to be so now, for so it becometh us to fulfil 
all justice." Then at His command the great prophet 
poured upon the brow of his Creator the waters of the 
Jordan. "And lo the heavens were opened to him, 
and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and 
coming upon Him." The eternal Son was present in 
our nature, " very man of very man, as He was God of 
God." The Paraclete appeared in the form of a dove, 
imaging His reign of gentleness and love. The Ancient 
of days, the Father, spoke by a voice, uttering in hu- 



THE DIVIKE SANCTUAKY. 



89 



man words the solemn recognition of Jesus, the son of 
Mary, as the accepted Mediator, whose words and acts 
should bind the three adorable persons, and go up 
with infinite merit before the throne. Thus the Trin- 
ity speaks by word and sign, and the " Word made 
flesh" stands in our stead and accepts the burden and 
the glory of the Mediatorial office. 

On another and even more mysterious occasion the 
same mighty voice was heard, when on the mountain 
of the transfiguration, our Lord revealed to three 
chosen apostles the splendor of His humanity, the 
flesh and blood of God. There " His face did shine as 
the sun, and His garments became white as snow." So 
great was the bliss of that bright moment that the 
ardent soul of Peter seemed to have passed beyond the 
bounds of sense, and with Moses and Elias to be in 
heavenly tabernacles. Then from the bright cloud 
which overhung them, symbolizing the presence of the 
divine Spirit, the voice of the Father proclaimed anew 
the office and mission of His Son. " This is My be- 
loved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye Him." 
Thus again by the sentence of the blessed Trinity "our 
help was laid" upon the child of Mary, and the second 
Adam announced as the head and hope of the fallen 
race. 

In these two manifestations of the three divine Per- 
sons, not only was the office of the God-Man confirmed, 
but that which He was to accomplish was foreshadowed. 
The complete redemption of our humanity in body and 
soul was signified in the person of Christ, in whom we 
are adopted, that through union to His flesh and blood 



90 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



we may partake of the divine nature. The fathers fail 
not to see in the baptism of our Lord the visible sign 
of the regeneration of souls, as, to use their language, 
He by His touch sanctified water to the washing away 
of sin. And as on Him in all plenitude descended the 
creating Spirit, so the new birth of souls by the bap- 
tism of water is assured. " Unless a man be born of 
water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the 
kingdom of God." 1 Yet not only to the spiritual part 
of man does the grace of the regeneration come. From 
Mary's pure substance did the consubstantial Son take 
the body which He united to His divine person, the 
flesh which is the bread of life to the world. On the 
mountain, therefore, He showed to chosen souls the 
glory of that flesh ; and its true splendor beamed forth 
as it shall appear when life triumphs over death, and 
the Ancient of days proclaims the victory of His Son. 
"For He hath put all things under the feet of His 
Christ." 2 The Incorrupt and Immortal works out the 
incorruption and immortality of the body which is 
united to His. " He that eateth My flesh and drinketh 
My blood, hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up 
at the last day." 3 The adorable Three in One recog- 
nize the Man Christ Jesus as the regenerator of the 
body, and in Him as the source of our new birth, 
adoption, and glorification, the Father is well pleased. 
It is a far more glorious work than that of creation 
when once before, the Triune God acted by the con- 
substantial Word, u by whom all things were made, 



1 St. John iii. 5. 2 1 Cor. xv. 26. 3 St. John vi. 55. 



THE DIVIXE SAXCTUABY. 



91 



and without whom was made nothing." 1 With the 
work of the Incarnate Lord, the Sacred Heart has all 
to do, as the seat of that love which drew Him to man 
and since the annunciation to Mary, still more mightily 
draws man to Him. There can be no rest for the anx- 
ious pulsations of that Heart until the number of the 
elect be accomplished, and their glorification be com- 
pleted in a union never to be broken. " I have, said 
He, a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I 
straitened until it be accomplished." 2 " If I be lifted 
up from the earth, I will draw all things to Myself." 3 
The Sacred Heart is the great actor in the regeneration 
of our souls to the new life the precious blood alone 
can give, and in the redemption of the body from 
shame and corruption to the glorious likeness of the 
First-born of the new race, the child of Mary. On 
this Heart of His own well-beloved Son the Father 
looks, and is ever well pleased. No adversary can 
arise against us when the voice of the Mediator is 
heard. " Who shall accuse against the elect of God ? 
Who is He that shall condemn? " " If God made man 
be for us, who is against us % " 4 

What cause have we not for hope and joy in these 
precious words ? There is nothing in us which can be 
of value to the infinite holiness of our God. His image 
in our souls we have defaced by many transgressions. 
His brightness in us we have marred by our perverse 
wills ; and the beams which shone upon the cradle of 



1 St. John i. 3. 

2 St. Luke xii. 50. 



8 St. John xii. 32. 
* Rom. viii. 31-34. 



92 



THE DIVIKE SAKCTUARY. 



our- baptism have been hidden in the clouds of sin 
which we have caused to arise before the gracious face 
which looked upon us with love at our new birth. We 
may offer to our long-suffering Saviour the sorrow we 
feel for the poor return we have made for mercy like 
His. But vain will be our most fervent oblation unless 
He deign to take in His own blessed hands the sacri- 
fice we give. Faith lives only around the tabernacle 
where He dwells. Love lights its ever-burning torch 
only at Bethlehem and Calvary ; and hope in all its ex- 
cess of life would die away did not the breast of the 
Word made flesh open to us its hallowed treasures, and 
the divine heart take our poor hearts into its repose of 
peace. There pillowed, we can look up into the 
Father's face, and in glad triumph repeat His own de- 
cree, " This is the Beloved Son, in whom Thou art well 
pleased." " Hear Him as He pleads before Thy throne 
for our great needs and as the blood which quickens 
the sacred humanity touches our feeble frames, they 
awake in the likeness of that manhood which rejoices 
heaven and gives unspeakable glory to the Trinity. 
Before that face is everlasting sunshine. In that heart 
is the joy of the redeemed, the glad embrace of the 
bridegroom and the bride. 



PART SECOND. 

THE SORROWS OF THE SACRED HEART. 



XIV. 



Heart of Jesus, the Propitiation for 
our sins, have mercy upon us. 

" He was wounded for our iniquities. He was bruised for 
our sins ; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and 
by His bruises we are healed!' — Isaias liii. 5. 

THUS far in our meditations we Lave contemplated 
the Sacred Heart as it is in itself with all the 
glories which of right belong to it, and as the adorable 
Trinity has been pleased to endow it. There is noth- 
ing so high, nothing so wonderful in all the ranks of 
created being. The divine humanity hath become the 
nature of God, and is joined in inseparable union to 
the divinity where the excelling greatness even of the 
angelic hierarchy can never approach. The Heart with 
which God loves man and loves His own being is the 
creature of the infinite predilection, and is crowned 
amid the splendors of the throne. u God, even Thy 
God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above 
Thy fellows." 1 

Would that we could dwell amid these glories and 
only speak of the brightness which belongs of right to 



1 Heb. i. 9. 



96 THE DIYIXE SAKCTUAEY. 



the Heart of Jesus, the chosen seat of the love of Em- 
manuel. Yet alas! the deepest shadows have been 
cast upon our most loving Lord, and because His 
heart is so tender, sensitive and patient, He hath been 
made to suffer a depth of woe which far surpasses 
finite understanding. In His very love He hath been 
wounded, and His unconquerable affection for us is 
the one source of all His sorrow. Waves of untold 
anguish have well nigh submerged the Sacred Human- 
ity, and all the billows and storms of grief such as the 
God-Man alone could feel, have dashed mercilessly 
against His breast. Borne down under the weight of 
His passion, the prophet beholds Him, and " there is 
no beauty in Him, nor comeliness : there is no sightli- 
ness that we should be desirous of Him. He is de- 
spised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows 
and acquainted with infirmity ; and His look was as it 
were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed 
Him not ; and we have thought Him a leper, and as 
one struck by God and afliicted." 1 To such a depth 
of ignominy and shame is subjected the brightest of all 
the divine creations, the human nature in inseparable 
s union with God the Word. To such a rayless night of 
I sorrow is brought the loving Heart which bears to man 
the patient affection of God, and opens to our ingrati- 
tudes its inmost recesses of tenderness, and its divine 
capacities of suffering. And all this for us, and even 
by the work of our own hands ! He opened His breast, 
not only to pour from thence the stream of salvation, 



1 Isaias liii. 3, 4. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



97 



but to receive where pain would be the keenest, the 
shafts of justice which our guilt demanded, and the 
sharpest thrusts of our cold indifference. So we are 
to see the Heart of our Blessed Lord in its night of 
woe, to contemplate what man has done with the 
treasure of heaven, when indulgent mercy put it in his 
power, how he was pleased to treat the heart of his 
God, when by the mystery of redemption it was placed 
in his hands. The sight will be as incomprehensible 
to us, as that of the glory which crowned the trans- 
ports of Bethlehem, where the divine heart first began 
to beat, or the Word made flesh spoke with His own 
human lips. No sooner had the eyes of Mary's child 
opened upon this world of sin, than men whose nature 
He had assumed began to conspire against Him. See- 
ing the Son of God in their power, they " said among 
themselves, This is the heir, come let us kill Him, and 
we shall have His inheritance.'' 1 

There can be no suffering like that of the passion 
of Jesus Christ. Here as victim for our sins He bears 
the whole weight of the divine justice whose rigors 
no merely human strength could endure. It is not 
the chastisement for one sin, nor for the crimes of one 
offender. It is the burden of the whole world's guilt, 
with all its accumulated indignities against the infinite 
attributes of power and mercy. The finite mind 
cannot fathom the depth of sorrow involved in such 
a mediatorship, when one man stands for all, and 
pays in His own person the penalty for every possible 



1 St. Matt. xxi. 38. 



98 THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



transgression. Again, the humanity of God, as it 
was alone able to pay this debt to supreme justice, 
was possessed of capacities for pain which far 
transcend even our imagination. A sorrow which to 
us seems endurable, takes upon itself the proportions 
of immensity, when experienced by the soul and body 
of the Incarnate Word. Is there anything more mys- 
terious and fearful than the grief of God in our 
nature? If clouds are massed around the bright 
throne before which angels prostrate themselves in 
awe, much more are the shades of deepest night upon 
the anguish of the Sacred Heart. Every shudder of 
agony moves heaven to its centre, and touches the 
bosom of the Trinity. And lastly, the pain of the 
man Christ Jesus is not only above all possible pain, 
by reason of the divine capacities; it takes upon 
itself the terrible character of a direct attack upon 
the Godhead itself. No sorrow could approach the 
peaceful breast in which abode the unfailing light of 
deity, unless that sorrow came from the malice of the 
creature's will. Once in heaven the rebel angels 
moved against the throne of their Creator, but He 
was not in their power, and headlong to the abyss 
were they dashed into rayless darkness. Now man 
has his maker in his power, and through the Sacred 
humanity he can attack not only the power but even 
the nature of God. Who then but the infinite mind, 
which alone worthily . knows and loves itself, can 
measure the indignity offered to the supreme majesty 
in the sacrileges of the passion, where every blow of 



THE DIVIDE SAKCTUAKY. 99 



heart or hand was given to the human nature of the 
eternal Son. 

Let us " behold the Man " who thus stands in our 
stead to take our blows, for love of our guilty souls. 
There was no rest to the body since the glad hour 
when first it lay in Mary's arms. Even over the 
cradle of Bethlehem hung the shadows of Calvary, 
and at His very birth Jesus was rejected by man and 
condemned to death. A life of exile, solitude and 
self-denial, ended by a ministry of toil and persecu- 
tion. The human hands which longed to tear Him 
in pieces and stop the beating of His heart, were 
only held back until the appointed hour. Then 
when " He was offered because it was His own will, 
He was led as a sheep to the slaughter." 1 Then 
11 He became as a man without help, free among the 
dead, where the floods lifted up their waves, and the 
wrath of God was strong over Him." 2 They bruised 
the sacred body as if it were the vilest of earth; 
they treated it as a u worm and no man, the reproach 
of men and the outcast of the people." 3 They 
bound it with cords, and dragged limb from limb 
through the streets of the city, staining the stones 
of guilty Jerusalem with the dye of the redeeming 
blood. They scourged Him till the bones were laid 
bare upon His sacred back, and upon His royal 
head they pressed a crown of thorns. They laid 
the weight of the cross upon His bleeding shoulders, 
and made His fainting strength exhaust itself beneath 



1 Isa. liii. 7. 3 Ps. lxxxvii. 5, 6 ; xcii. 3. 8 Ps. xxi. 7. 



100 



THE DIVIHE SANCTUARY. 



the load. They drew His feet and hands upon the 
cruel wood, and to the dislocation of every joint they 
nailed Him fast. They hung him up between two 
malefactors till death came to His relief after six long 
hours of agony. Even then when the body hung 
lifeless, a spectacle to move the pity of the cruel 
crowd, they had not finished with the Sacred Heart. 
"With a spear they pierced the divine breast and the 
stream of water and blood flowed down, the last 
offering of the dead heart which so loved man. Who 
can count the bruises and stripes upon the flesh of 
the Lamb, slain by the hands of those He created and 
came to redeem ? 

If the sight of the torn and bleeding body appall 
us, who will be able to look upon the sorrows of 
the divine soul, and enter within that sanctuary 
where the deity itself suffers in the pangs of a 
human heart ? Here is the centre of the mysterious 
pain which wrought the world's salvation. Horror 
of the enormity of sin which struggles against the 
very life of the Eternal ; fear of the powers of evil 
let loose to work their worst without restraint ; grief 
at the outrage done to the divine attributes, and 
to mercy incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ; 
the overwhelming sense of ingratitude where love 
lies wounded in its tenderest point ; and the crushing 
sadness at the wasted prodigality of the precious 
blood, all these strive together in the broken heart 
where the tears that flow so freely are the tears of 
God's agony. 

Ah! behold the Man, rejected, despised, bruised, 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 101 



crucified, dying, weeping, lifeless on the Cross. In 
our place He stands, and the innocent bears the 
stripes of the guilty. u The chastisement of our 
peace is upon Him, and by His bruises are we 
healed." " The breath of our mouth, Christ the 
Lord is taken in our sins." 1 Here is the mighty 
voice that pleads for us, and the trembling accents 
of the dying prevail, where the Word that spoke the 
universe into its glad being cannot be heard. The 
Heart which is lighted up with the splendors of 
the holy Trinity, abyss of wisdom, and ocean of 
goodness, is in its sorrows the propitiation for our 
sins. Thence with divine energy mercy descends 
to embrace the contrite soul. By its power the 
cleansing blood washes every stain away, and on its 
exulting wings the ransomed shall ascend, until 
heart to heart, the Redeemer and the redeemed 
shall be one. "Arise, make haste, my love, my 
dove, my beautiful one, and come. For winter is 
now past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers 
have appeared in our land. Arise, my love, my 
beautiful one, and come." 2 



1 Lam. iv. 20. 



2 Canticles ii. 10-13. 



XV. 



Heart of Jesus, sorrowful in the 
garden even unto death, have 
mercy upon us. 

" My soul is sorrowful, even unto death!' — St. Mat- 
thew xxvi, 38. 

rpHE agony of our Lord in the garden has no 



parallel in all the annals of sorrow. There has 
been, and there can be no anguish like unto this. 
No hand of violence had as yet been laid upon Him. 
No spear had pierced the sacred flesh. Neither 
crown of thorns, nor scourge, nor nail had touched 
Hirn. The Sacred Heart was still beating in its 
sanctuary, and the precious blood ran in its wonted 
channels. The malice of three and thirty years had 
not been able to draw near the sacred humanity. 
There had been exile and solitude, and privations of 
every kind. There had been three years of a ministry 
in which He was homeless and almost friendless. 
Yet there had been mighty miracles of power and 
grace. The sick and the dead had obeyed His 
creating word. The devils had fled in dismay before 
Him, and souls from the darkness of sin had turned 




THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 103 



to the light of His gospel. The apostles had been 
gathered, and the foundations of the Church had 
been laid on the rock Himself had chosen. The 
shadows of Calvary drew nigh indeed, but they had 
been upon Him from the day of His birth. The 
baptism of blood was at hand, but for this in earnest 
love for souls, He had longed and prayed. He " was 
offered because He willed it," and in the adorable 
sacrament which He had just instituted, He had in 
effect shed His blood. Not one blow of the scourge 
would He refuse, not one point of the thorny crown 
would He take away, nor from nail and spear would 
He diminish one pang. He came in the spirit of the 
divine decree to fulfil all He had promised, when in 
His own person He assumed the work of redemption. 
" Behold I come ; in the head of the book it is written 
of Me, that I should do Thy will, O God." 1 Whence 
then this terrible agony in the garden where He was 
wont to pray, the solitude sacred by communion 
with the Father, and the blessed hosts of obedient 
angels? Why before the time, and by no hand of 
outward violence, does the red torrent flow so 
fearfully, and the Son of the Highest tremble, and 
pityingly ask for human sympathy ? Fear and hor- 
ror and sadness crushing the powers of life, make 
Him a bleeding victim before the day of sacrifice. 
The cross and the centurion's spear await the mor- 
row, but the divine Heart is beating out its life, and 
from its panting struggles the precious blood gushes 



1 Heb. x. 7. 



104 THE DIYIXE SAXCTUAEY. 



out, and faster than veins or arteries can restrain it 
rushes through every pore of the sacred body. 

Here is the revelation of the interior agony which, 
concealed so long beneath the patient and peaceful 
exterior, now breaks forth all the mightier for its 
years of restraint. There is still the same sweet 
and loving face, submissive to every blow of torture ; 
but the Sacred Heart is sorrowful even to death, 
and in the struggle for resignation conquers at the 
cost of all its treasure. The strength of God comes 
to its rescue, else the shades of death had over- 
whelmed it, and not a drop of blood would have 
remained for the immolation of Calvary. Here the 
sorrow of the Sacred Heart speaks, and its language 
is the crimson tide of the life of the "Word made 
flesh. 

Tell us, O Heart, which art the rest and refuge 
of the afflicted, made to bear the burden of all 
sorrowful souls, tell us the secret of Thy woe. Let 
us reverently look into Thine abyss of agony, and 
in Thine hour of deep dismay leave all created things 
and watch with Thee. The sight will teach us many 
, lessons, and explain the secret of Thy mercy to the 
fallen, and the power which Thou hast to succor 
our great need. " When Thou shalt pass through 
the waters I will be with thee, and the floods shall 
not cover thee." 1 

In this moment of anguish the most loving soul of 
Jesus beholds the rejection of God by man, the crime 



1 Isa. sliii. 2. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 105 

of the crucifixion of the Incarnate Son, in all its 
malignity and indignity to the divine majesty. No 
nearer to the throne of the Most High could the 
malice of the rebel creature come. It scales the 
heights of the Supreme, and falls with full force upon 
the flesh and blood of God. Why should not the 
sensitive soul tremble at the mystery of iniquity, and 
the heart in union with the consubstantial Word 
quake with horror at the daring guilt of sinful 
man? Who should feel and resent the outrage to 
the great love of the Trinity, if not the soul of the 
victim, looking on one hand upon the bruised and 
violated humanity, and on the other upon the burning 
sanctity of the Omnipotent? No greater reparation 
could be made to the offended majesty of the Crea- 
tor than this very breaking of the human heart of 
Jesus, at the sight of its own desecration. Faster 
than the call for vengeance ascends to the consuming 
fire, the red drops gush out and plead for pardon. 
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what 
they do." 1 

Yet while Heaven trembles at the creature's un- 
equalled crime, and angels are mute with horror, and 
worlds upon worlds in space feel the shudder that 
runs through the ranks of principalities and powers, 
man alone is unmoved. 

He whose nature the Son of God assumed, dignified 
above all the ranks of created intelligence in this near- 
ness to the deity, he alone, the guilty one, stands 




1 St. Lake sxiii. 34. 



106 THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



indifferent and ungrateful. There are few who tarry 
here to watch with the dying Lord. The song of 
thanksgiving that goes up to the Lamb slain on Cal- 
vary, ascends from a poor and chosen band, while the 
multitude still shout " crucify Him." The world with 
its pomps and pleasures wins their service and their 
love, and the thorns they weave for His crown, are 
the divided affections, broken vows, and daily forget- 
fulness of unloving souls. The precious blood is pro- 
lific of purity. It is the stream of cleansing and the 
wine which germinates virgins. Yet there are few 
who are washed in its flood, who walk in white, and 
" follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." Iniquity 
goes on apace, and builds high its towers as if to 
mock the might of heaven. The nations of the earth 
with one consent conspire against the rejected Christ, 
and cast off His yoke from them. Vice and impurity 
grow more vile from day to day, and profanity 
becomes bolder in the voice of the infidel and the 
unholy. Hell opens wide its mouth, and " the smoke 
of its torments ascends up for ever, where the wine of 
the wrath of God is poured out " 1 to the lost who 
bear ever in the abyss of vengeance the marks of a 
redemption wasted, the red cross of the precious blood 
shed in vain. So much love on the part of G-od, and 
so little gratitude on the part of men ! " They have 
killed the prophets and stoned those whom I sent," said 
the eternal Father, " at least they will reverence My 
Son." 2 Yet far above the martyrdom of the servant 



1 Apoc. xiv. 10, 11. 



2 St. Matthew xxi. 36, 37. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



107 



rises the ignominy of the Master, and Golgotha reveals 
the spectacle of sin in its dire struggle, with its hand 
upon the life of the Creator. 

O, the Sacred Heart could have borne anything but 
our coldness and ingratitude. If the red drops could 
have come back with souls new born, and saved from 
the wrath to come, how exultingly would they have 
gushed out till all the earth should have been peopled 
by the redeemed. Yet, such is not the reward of the 
great sacrifice. The stones of guilty Jerusalem are 
more tender than human hearts whose malice seems to 
kindle afresh as the face of Jesus grows paler, and the 
shadows of death thicken upon His broken form. He, 
the life of God, the force of all created things, trembles, 
and cries out in a voice that moves every thing that 
lives but sinful man, " Father, if it be possible, let 
this chalice pass from Me ; but if I must drink it, not 
My will but Thine be clone." 1 Saviour, if ever we 
were of those who pressed this chalice to Thy lips ; if 
our coldness, neglect, or sins against Thy presence in 
our souls added to Thy sorrow in the shades of the 
garden, here at last accept our repentance. Thy 
agony unto death hath prevailed ; Thy bleeding 
Heart hath had mercy upon us. To Thy anguish do 
we consecrate our remaining lives, and all the faculties 
Thou shalt give us. Our tears shall mingle with 
Thine, and Gethsemane shall be our home, till Thou 
Thyself shalt lead us from the darkness due to our 
sins, into the blessed light of the resurrection morn- 



1 St. Matthew xxvi. 39, 42. 



108 THE DIVIDE SAKCTUAKY. 



ing. Hearts broken with Thine shall be a sweet con- 
solation to Thy night of woe, and with the incense of 
holy reparation shall ascend to the nuptial chamber, 
where the mystical death presenteth the bride to her 
bridegroom. There where " the river of water of life, 
clear as crystal proceeds from the throne of God and 
of the Lamb, shall we see His face, and His Name 
shall be on our foreheads." There shall the Alpha 
and Omega, the beginning and the ending of all our 
hopes, reveal Himself to our purified vision. "I am 
the root and stock of David, the bright and morning 
star. And the Spirit and the bride say, come. And 
he that heareth, let him say, come. And he that 
thirsteth, let him come; and he that will, let him 
take the water of life freely." 1 



1 Apoc. xxii. 1, 4, 16, 17. 



XVI 



Heart of Jesus, Saturated with Re- 
vilings, have mercy upon us. 

" I am made a derision to all My people, their song all the 
day long. He hath filled Me with bitterness, He hath in- 
ebriated Me with wormwood. He shall give His cheek 

to Him that striketh Him; He shall be filled with re- 
proaches!' — Lamentations iii. 14, 15, 30. 

rp HE malice which rejected the Word made flesh and 
~k brought His sacred humanity to the bruises and 
shame of the passion, was not content with deeds of 
cruelty. Curses and revilings were heaped upon Him, 
as if hell itself had opened her abyss of spirits lost to 
mock His woe. These sounds of ribaldry, with oaths 
of blasphemy, took the place of gentle sympathy and 
words of compassion. " They encompassed Him like 
raging dogs, and opened their mouths against Him, as 
a lion ravening and roaring." Before the mob of ma- 
lignant enemies He was a " worm and no man, the 
reproach of men and the outcast of the people. All 
that saw Him laughed Him to scorn, they spoke with 
their lips and wagged their heads in derision." 1 Man 
not only refused the salvation He came to offer. He 



1 Ps. xxi. 7-17. 



110 THE DIYIKE SANCTUARY. 



despised the precious blood, and "even esteemed it 
unclean." 1 The Sacred Heart, so sensitive to human 
words, because of its love to man and because by a 
human tongue it spoke in accents of divine affection, 
was saturated with revilings, and made to break be- 
neath the shame of contempt and dishonor. It was 
not enough to defile the humanity of God with blows 
and spitting, to lead it down to the lowest depths of 
ignominy, to strip it in bleeding nakedness before the 
vile mob, to mock it with the sceptre of straw, and 
crown of thorns, and ragged purple robe. The spear 
must go far into the interior of the God-Man, and 
touch His sacred honor. It was a hard trial for the 
child of Mary to look upon His body, lacerated and 
ghastly, covered with filth and spittle, while the mul- 
titude laughed at the loathsome sight, and cried out, 
" Is this the Son of God? Let Him deliver Him if He 
will have Him." 2 There still remained the spotless 
character of One who had lived away from the haunts 
of men, going about doing good, and scattering bene- 
dictions with His every breath or touch. Never had 
He stood in the way of man's jealousy or ambition. 
From the stable of His birth to the noisome Golgotha 
where He died, there had been nothing to excite the 
bitterness of envy or poison the shafts of calumny. 
His honor had been untouched in a life of godlike vir- 
tue and heroic self-sacrifice. Now the Sacred Heart is 
not so safely sheltered that it can escape the slander 
and reproach which the demon will pour upon the 



* Heb. x. 29. 



a St. Matt, xxvii. 43. 



THE DIVIDE SAKCTUAKY. Ill 



breast of the Word made flesh. The devils in their 
darkness have blasphemed their Maker, and the abyss 
has echoed with the curses which go up with the 
smoke of their torments. But the Omnipotent is far 
above them, and blasphemy is the empty malice of 
their spiritual natures writhing under the lash of divine 
vengeance. Now the Infinite has taken a finite nature, 
and the rage which spends itself in vain in hell, con- 
spires to crush the manhood of God's well-beloved 
Sod. Demons move upon the storm of human passion, 
and speak with lips of men, to the dishonor and re- 
proach of the innocent victim who takes the place of 
the guilty. Obedient He takes the place of the rebel- 
lious ; pure as the sanctity of the all Holy, He stands 
in the place of the impure, and on His shoulders bears 
the whole load of our shame. Yet what can the lips 
of the malignant utter against the incarnate purity ; or 
how shall calumny poison its arrows to wound the 
Sacred Heart ? They call in question His motives and 
ascribe to thirst for worldly greatness and affectation 
of singularity, the life of sacrifice He led. He sepa- 
rated Himself from the leaders of His own nation, 
though obedient to every precept of the law. He 
called Himself the King of the Jews and even bore this 
title on the cross. He was the enemy of Csesar, and 
the leader of a sedition, as the false witnesses testified 
in the court of Pilate. He sought- to found a sect 
which should draw multitudes from the religion of 
the Jews and threaten the sceptre of the world's em- 
pire. His very gentleness was a mark for deep-laid 
plans to overthrow the temple and the nation, and His 



112 THE DIYIKE SANCTUARY. 



far-reaching charity was only the cover of deception. 
Love humbled to dust, love bleeding at every pore, 
love dying, and still not exhausted, was mistaken for 
subtle ambition or the foolish desire for distinction. 
Did He join in the innocent festivity of those He came 
to save, and by sympathy with their joy open the ten- 
derness of His heart ? They shall insult His sweet con- 
descension, and call Him u a glutton and a wine-drinker, 
a friend of publicans and sinners." 1 If He wept at the 
grave of Lazarus, as in that grave of His friend He be- 
held the pangs of death, the shame of corruption, and 
the sorrows which came from sin ; they will mock at 
His tears and call in question the sincerity of His grief, 
or the truth of His mission from heaven. " Could He 
not, if He had been a prophet, have caused that Laza- 
rus should not have died ? " 2 If in mercy to the sor- 
rowing and lost He stretched forth His almighty arm, 
and raised the dead to life or the sick to health, it was 
by the aid of the devil that He wrought such wonders. 
u This man casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince 
of the devils." 3 They even called Him by the title of 
the leader of fallen angels, and made His sacred name 
common with that of the father of lies. 4 Though He 
had avoided every dignity and had fled from the world, 
making the desert and the mountain His home, the 
ungrateful mob went out to stone Him because He had 
sought to make Himself a king. " We have found this 
man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give 



1 St. Matt. xi. 19. 

2 St. John xi. 37. 



3 St. Matt. xii. 24. 
* St. Matt. x. 25. 



THE DIVIDE SAKCTUAKY. . 113 

tribute to Caesar, saying that He is Christ the King." 1 
Thirty years of complete retirement were passed in 
exile, or in humble labor at an exhausting trade, when 
the glory of God on earth was hidden in the thick 
darkness of sin and unbelief, and angels watched and 
wondered at the patience of the Sacred Heart. His 
very poverty shall be held up as a reproach, and they 
shall laugh at His worn hands and humble dress. " Is 
not this the carpenter's son ? Is not His mother called 
Mary?" 2 Thus did. "He become a stranger to His 
brethren and an alien to the sons of His mother." " I 
covered My soul in fasting, and it was made a reproach 
to Me. I made hair-cloth my garment, and I became a 
by-word to them. They that sat in the gate spake 
against Me, and they that drank wine made Me. their 
song." 3 The sense of our ingratitude for the shedding 
of the precious blood led to the agony in the garden, 
and the weakness of exhausted nature only excited 
their scorn. On the flesh already before the time mois- 
tened with the crimson drops they mercilessly bound 
the thongs, and for tears return blows, for gentle words 
and pleading looks they give laughter of derision and 
oaths of blasphemy. He aspired to be a king and in 
the judgment-hall declared His title. Let Him wear 
the crown of thorns, and the laughing crowd shall 
bend the knee before Him. He will thirst as death 
approaches and the blood runs out and the fountains 
of life dry up. Then "we will give gall for His food, 



1 St. Luke xxiii. 2. 2 St. Matt. xiii. 55. 

3 Ps. lxvui. 9-13. 



114 



THE DIVIDE SAKCTUABY. 



and vinegar for His drink." 1 We will deny His divine 
character and scorn His claim to be the Son of God. 
What, the Son of God naked, nailed to a cross, be- 
tween two malefactors who revile Him in unison with 
the jeering multitude! "Yah, Thou that . destroyest 
the Temple of God, and in three days dost rebuild it, 
save Thyself. If Thou be the Son of God, come down 
from the cross. If He be the king of Israel, let Him 
come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. 
He trusted in God : let Him now deliver Him, if He 
will have Him, for He said, I am the Son of God." 2 
Thus was the Sacred Heart saturated with revilings. 
No tender point was left untouched. They poured 
despite upon the sacred humanity and wounded Him 
in His love for the Father, in His adoration of the 
eternal justice, in His exhibition of overwhelming 
mercy, in every virtue which assumed the gigantic 
proportions of deity, in His affections for man, in His 
pity of our misery. He fell under the weight of the 
sword of just vengeance, and died beneath the contempt 
of the world. Scorn of God never reached its height 
until shame covered His lifeless head and the Sacred 
Heart broke amid our reproaches. The friend of pub- 
licans, the companion of sinners has been put to death 
by command of the Roman governor, at the demand 
of His own nation. Let publicans and sinners weep 
around His cross, and bear their poor offerings to His 
grave. The great and the noble have despised Him. 
Let unlettered fishermen tell of His love and virtues. 



1 Ps. lxviii. 22. 



2 St. Matt, xxvii. 40, 43. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 115 



O Sacred Heart of my most indulgent Lord, to what 
a depth of shame have our sins brought Thee ! Did 
my lips have j>art in the tide of revilings which satu- 
rated Thee, and hast Thou ever been the theme of my 
reproach ? Alas, louder than words my transgressions 
against Thy law have spoken, and my hands have 
nailed Thee to the cross of Thy dishonor ! Yet oh, 
that Heart so filled with reproaches will have mercy 
on my repentance! Open my mouth, O Lord! and 
from Thy bleeding side pour grace upon my lips, that 
now and evermore they may speak Thy praise. 



XYII 



Heart of Jesus, "Wounded with 
Love, have mercy upon us, 

" Thou hast wounded My Heart, My sister, My spouse 
"Love is strong as death. Many waters cannot quench 

it, neither ca?i the floods drown it." — Canticles iv. 9 ; viii. 

6, 7- 

/^\UR Blessed Lord has revealed to us that, great as 



were His sufferings, His love was the cause of the 
severest pangs. He suffered in every part of His sacred 
body, and in every faculty of His soul ; but in His heart 
He suffered most. Not only did His love for us heighten 
the sense of our ingratitude, but it made the sufferer 
more keenly alive to the pain we inflicted. It was not 
Pilate who condemned Him to death, so much as the 
world which He represented. The powers of earth 
conspired together to reject and despise Him. They 
gave Him a stable for His birth-place, exiled Him in 
His infancy, and in mature years they fed Him with 
the bread of poverty, and in death refused even the 
place on w 7 hich to die. Thus was the most perfect 
of all God's creations, the beautiful humanity of His 
Son, despised and completely rejected by mankind. 
There was a place on earth for every one else, even for 




THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 117 



the most vile. Even the inanimate things of creation 
were welcome in their spheres of being and of service 
to men ; but for God in our nature there was no room 
in the world He had made. Earth cast Him out at 
His birth, refused Him shelter during life, and ex- 
hausted its power of persecution to put Him to an 
ignominious death. From the country he loved as the 
city of David and the home of the patriarchs, He was 
exiled as a stranger. The cold and bleeding feet were 
driven from the home and fireside, and the most tender 
of all hearts yearned for human affection and found 
only indifference or hatred. He had no shelter in the 
inn where the wayfarer may repose, and little sympathy 
in the breasts of men where He looked for pity or gen- 
erous compassion. The few who clung to Him were 
overwhelmed in His sorrow, and the joy of earth died 
to them because of their love for Him. He had shut 
out the brightness of the Father's face, that He might 
take upon Himself the blows of justice, and so the 
world He came to save covered Him also with clouds 
of darkness, and had not even a smile of gratitude. 
To the Uncreated Light, " the brightness of the Father's 
glory and the figure of His substance," all created 
light faded away, and the earth was as dark and drear 
as the grave of the first Adam. 

This rejection of the most affectionate Son of 
Mary caused deep wounds in every part of His 
nature. 

His body was bruised by sorrow and the instruments 
of torture until its fair beauty was defiled and the come- 
liness of manhood was lost. 44 There is no beauty in 



118 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



Him nor comeliness, and there was no sightliness that 
we should be desirous of Him." 1 

The sight of His torn and bleeding body, marred by 
blows and spittle, hurt Him beyond ail our power to 
comprehend. He cherished the sacred body which 
bore the likeness of His mother, for it was His outward 
manifestation of love to her and us ; and it was the 
body of God, reposing in the bosom of the Holy 
Trinity. 

His soul was the seat of the direst anguish, while 
with its mighty intelligence and quick power to read 
all human passion, it beheld the waves of envy and 
malignity which beat upon Him with the force of an 
angry tempest. No one but God could have stood 
patient and long-suffering while the creatures of His 
hand, heartless and fierce, rushed like infuriated beasts 
upon Him. One act of will could have annihilated all 
His foes, but he bares His breast and supplies the 
strength which comes to mock and torture Him. O 
who can tell the wounds of the divine soul of Jesus, 
looking into the face of the deity, and comprehending 
the dignity of His person so ruthlessly assailed with 
every violence which touches the most sacred limbs 
and features of God ! 

He renounced everything for the work of our redemp- 
tion, the love of self, the honor of manhood, every 
dignity which belonged to His office, even the breath 
of life itself. Man as an executioner approached the 
soul of his Creator, but little did he know how with 



1 Isa. liii. 2. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



119 



sword and spear he came to touch the cherished home 
of deity itself. u The Lord was pleased to bruise Him 
ill infirmity, and His soul labored and was delivered 
unto death." 1 

Yet, if possible, there is a deeper depth where the 
sword of our cold rejection went down, and proved 
u more piercing than any two-edged sword, reaching 
unto the division of soul and spirit, of the joints also 
and the marrow." 2 That abyss was His love ; and 
here the broken humanity of the Son of God suffered 
its most fearful wound. The blows of our ingratitude 
struck His love, and it trembled in agony beneath the 
shock. God's incomprehensible tenderness rose up in 
the night of our woe to win us, and the heart of Jesus 
came pleading for our affections, not for the sake of 
the uncreated beauty which fills the universe and needs 
nothing, but for the sake of our lost and wretched 
selves wandering in darkness and descending to eternal 
death. That love which wrought the incarnation and 
filled heaven with wonder, meets with no response. 
Rather where love seems to lay bare the divine power 
of pity, and where the Omnipotent seems to be weak, 
man rises to take the advantage of the condescension 
of the Most High, and assail the exposed breast of the 
Word made flesh. " Is this the Son of God, so prostrate 
in pitying accents asking for my heart? Does He who 
made me, kneel before me ? Then I will answer as if 
He were my inferior and in my power. I ask not your 
love ; I will not have your pity ; for me you weep and 



1 Isa. liii. 10, 12. 



2 Heb. iv. 12. 



120 



THE DIYIKE SANCTUARY. 



shed your blood in vain. The gifts of time, even the 
joys of my animal nature, I prefer to Thee. How is 
Thy prodigality wasted on a soul like mine ; and does 
this display the wisdom of the Godhead to give Him- 
self for nought ? Would not even finite love be more 
prudent of its excess? Would human affection run 
on forever where there came no response ? " 

But this is not finite love, and its ways are far above 
our thoughts. It is the heart of God which takes the 
wound from our hands, and still beats on, trembling 
indeed, but with every pulsation speaking of perse- 
vering tenderness. It will not hear our denial of its 
grace. It will not look upon our ingratitudes so much 
as upon our miserable ruin and irreparable loss. It is 
the infinite pity which lives and moves and endures 
in the rejected but patient heart of Jesus. Here the 
compassion of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are ex- 
pressed, and the actor in the scene is the Word by whom 
ail things were made, and in whom they must be re- 
made. Love, hurt and wounded, will still persevere, 
and " many waters cannot quench, it, neither can the 
floods drown it, for it is stronger than death." 

There is a wonder in this love which shows the pro- 
portions of the divine immensity ; and where it is the 
strongest, the wound is the deepest. They who can 
most afflict the sacred heart are those nearest to it by 
ties of grace and mercy. " What are these wounds in 
the midst of Thy hands ? And He shall say, With these 
I was wounded in the house of them that loved Me." 1 



1 Zacharias xiii. 6. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 121 



The sister, the spouse, can wound the bridegroom by a 
look, by the slightest forgetfulness, or preference of 
self or creatures. 

Where, then, shall our unloving hearts find hope 
with all the burden we bear of injury and outrage to 
the mercy which can be our sole refuge ? If we love 
not, there is no ray of light which can illumine our 
darkness. We shall lose our life when finally we lose 
our patient Lord. The night eternal is near at hand, 
and the fountain of redeeming blood flows in vain for 
us. If we will love, the very breast which we have so 
often pierced will plead for us, and call down mercy 
on our past, and give strength to our weak resolves. 
There is no remorse like that which comes from having 
hurt the most affectionate Heart of Jesus Christ. Its 
long-suffering is our hope ; its infinitude is our refuge. 
The sad waste of many years shall be repaired. The 
life lost shall be found, and turned in all its freshness 
back to the fountain of love. There shall true virtues 
take deathless root, and spring up to beautify the gar- 
den of our Beloved. With the ointment of our un- 
wavering devotion shall we anoint the worn and 
wearied feet of our much-injured Redeemer, and when 
our hearts are really wounded with love of Him, He 
will forget the scars of our ingratitude, fold us to His 
open side, and speak again the words of the bride- 
groom, the full benedictions of His mercy. 



XVIII. 



Heart of Jesus, Pierced with a 
Lance, have mercy upon us. 

" But one of the soldiers with a spear opened His side, and 
immediately there came out blood and tvater. And he that 
saw it gave testimony : and his testimony is true." — St. 
John xix. 34, 35. 

rpHE beloved disciple who leaned upon the breast 



of Jesus, and from thence drew the tenderness of 
his devotion to the Sacred Heart, tells us the wonder- 
ful story of the piercing of the side of our Lord. And 
he tells us with more than wonted emphasis, that we 
may not fail to mark the mystery therein contained. 
It occupies a very important place among the miracles 
of our redemption, when he bids us remember that he 
himself was the eye-witness, and that the Holy Spirit 
commanded him to bear testimony. " He that saw 
it hath given testimony : and his testimony is true. 
And he knoweth that he saith true : that you also may 
believe." There are in this inspired record the fact 
that the Heart of our crucified Lord was pierced by 
the centurion's spear, the wonderful events which fol- 
lowed, and the spiritual meaning of this opening of 




THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



123 



the breast of our dead Eedeemer. These revelations 
of the Gospel are a new lesson of the love of Jesus, and 
give earnestness and effect to our cry for mercy. 

The vigil of the passover was nearly at an end. The 
eclipse of the noon-day had passed away, and the 
evening of the great feast came on, as the sun of the 
sad day sank to rest in silence. The bodies of the 
malefactors, said the Jews, could not be permitted to 
remain on the cross on the sabbath-day, therefore their 
death must be hastened before the night-fall. " The 
soldiers came, therefore, and they broke the legs of the 
first and of the other that was crucified with Kim. But 
when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already 
dead, they did not break His legs. But one of them 
with a spear opened His side, and immediately there 
came out blood and water." Torture put an end to 
the agonies of the dying thieves, but the Son of God 
hung lifeless between them. His sufferings were over, 
and there was no need to torture Him, or to insult the 
sacredness of His dead body. They could take it 
down and bury it on Golgotha. Yet the malice of 
man had not been satiated, nor its wanton fury ap- 
peased. The Heart which so loved man, whose last 
pulsation was for their salvation, was still and quiet in 
the sacred breast. Perhaps the mute appeal of death 
was more powerful than the anxious beatings of its 
life. Y T et is there no reverence for the august dead, 
nor pity for the helpless body which they had tor- 
mented. The instinct of the sinner's hatred directs the 
soldier's spear. With a strong hand the mounted cen- 
turion thrusts his weapon at the exposed and emaciated 



124 



THE DIVTBTE SANCTUARY. 



breast. Into the very centre of the Sacred Heart it 
enters, and wide and deep is the gash it leaves. 

Suddenly, as if life returned to respond to the last 
act of the crucifixion, the Heart by its own divine 
impulse recoils. The soldier draws out His spear, and 
the torrent of mingled blood and water flows down. 
A living stream from the dead Lord gushes forth, and 
through all the ruins of our decaying humanity springs 
up with power to renew and cleanse. The Father and 
the Word and the Holy Ghost have given their testi- 
mony. Now upon the crimson cross the Spirit, the 
water and the blood take voice and proclaim the Re- 
deemer. " This is He that came by water and blood, 
Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and 
blood." 1 Appalled at the wonderful sight, the execu- 
tioners shrink away in horror. Who is this whose 
blood flows so freely even when death has set his seal 
upon Him ? Who is this whose dead heart becomes 
the fountain of a living stream, and pours out not only 
blood, but water also ? Is there life still in the cold 
body, or feeling in the pierced and bleeding breast ? 
The centurion whose spear had orjened this fountain 
bows down with grief and fear and cries out, " Indeed 
this man was the Son of God." The beloved disciple 
trembles with the shock, as if his own side also were 
opened, but with loving eyes looks up that he may 
see all the wondrous truth and bear his testimony to 
future ages. 

True hearts who, weaned from the sinful world, have 



1 1 E. St. John v. 6, 8. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 125 



learned to love this spouse of all pure souls, have found 
the spiritual lessons of this great scene, and on its 
meaning have spent the fervor of their devotion. The 
Spirit has taught them, with the silent language of the 
water and the blood, the evil of sin, the persevering 
mercy of Jesus, and the completeness of His redemp- 
tion. 

Could the malice of sin more forcibly express itself 
than by its hatred to God made man? The end of the 
sinner's rebellion would be to dethrone the Most High, 
and strix3 the deity of His glory. It attacks His attri- 
butes and assails His rights, and when from incompre- 
hensible love He becomes man, it is only satisfied when 
it kills Him. And as if the enmity of the rebel must 
find its last expression, it wounds and tortures the in- 
carnate God in the vehemence of His love for us, and 
plans ignominy and mutilation for the Sacred Heart. 
There in the breast of the Son of Mary is the last spear 
to be thrust, and when the current of life is stilled, the 
sinner's hand shall open the cruel wound which shall 
never heal. It can go no further than this. The love 
of God is its point of attack, and the Heart where that 
love resides and manifests its divine sweetness. Ob, 
who but the repentant soul can learn to love, and who 
but the loving soul can know the vileness of sin which 
in every expression meditates the piercing of the breast 
of Jesus? So before the open side penitence kindles 
into love, and love rises to heroic consecration, and 
from the water and the blood new life is born, the life 
which cannot die, whose only rest is the divine em- 
brace. Eternity takes hold of time beneath the dead 



126 



THE DIVIKE SAKCTUARY. 



Lord, and sin utterly renounced is the beginning of 
sanctity. 

Then how more forcibly could the persevering mercy 
of Jesus Christ speak to us ? It spoke in a thousand 
wondrous words from the stable of Bethlehem to the 
last hour on Calvary. It spoke by a thousand acts of 
sacrifice and tender sympathy, from the first breath of 
infancy to the latest sigh of pain. Life it gave and 
death it offered, and it was the life and death of God 
made man. But while there is one drop of blood to 
be shed, one expression of love unuttered, it will not 
rest satisfied. In death it still speaks. It wills that 
the out-stretched arms should never close, and that the 
broken Heart should be opened to welcome home the 
sinner forever. It was the sinner's work ; but divine 
mercy overrules it, that the breast of the incarnate pity 
of God might ever speak, and in its touching wound 
bid the weary wanderer find repose. So will it be till 
the night of death overtake the lost, and the shadows 
of the great evening fall upon his day of grace. There 
is nothing more that God with all His infinite resources 
can do. 

Beneath the cross also, and in the sight of the sacred 
dead, we learn the completeness of our redemption. 
To every need of our fallen nature the mighty Saviour 
has supplied a remedy, and the immensity of His satis- 
faction goes far beyond the claims of supreme justice. 
From His open side, as from the second Adam, the 
Church was bom which is the mother of all the living. 
Here in the sleep of death came forth with undying 
life the bride and spouse of the Crucified. " He loved 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUAKY. 



127 



the church, and delivered Himself up for it, that He 
might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in 
the word of life, that He might present it to Himself a 
glorious Church without spot." 1 The espousals were 
made upon Calvary and the pledge of His nuptials is 
His bleeding heart. Here is the birthplace of all holy 
souls. Here is the ladder of the patriarch, which 
passes from earth to heaven, and through the rent side 
of the dead Christ opens the sight of celestial purity, 
the home where we shall see as we are seen, and know 
as we are known. That fearful wound in the Sacred 
Heart is the open window through which we leam to 
see the love of our compassionate Jesus, and in it the 
perfections of the God who hath washed away our sins 
in His own blood. The Spirit bears testimony with 
the water and the blood that we are the sons of God. 
Then well may we plead with confidence for mercy to 
the Heart pierced with the centurion's lance. Grace 
and peace flow to the contrite and true in the mingled 
tide, and we arise from the foot of the cross in the 
freshness of a new birth. " The old things are passed 
away : behold all things are made new." 2 " We are 
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of 
the will of man, but of God." 3 



1 Eph. v. 25, 2T. 



2 2 Cor. v, IT. 3 St. John i. 13. 



XIX. 



Heart of Jesus, exhausted of Thy 
blood upon the Cross, have mercy 
upon us. 

u And He was clothed with a garment sprinkled with 
blood ; and His name is called the Word of God." — 
Apoc. xix. 13. 

rriHE name which Holy Scripture gives to the 



- 1 - second person of the eternal Trinity is "the 
Word of God." He was begotten of the Father 
from all eternity, coequal and consubstantial with Him. 
He is " the brightness of His glory and the figure of 
His substance." 1 "In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, and the Word was 
God." He is called the Word, because as speech 
exjDresses the mind, so the Father, the root and prin- 
ciple of the whole deity, expresses Himself outwardly 
by His only begotten Son. " All things were made by 
Him, and without Him was made nothing that was 
made." 2 He expressed the will of the Trinity acting 
in unity. " He spoke, and the heavens were made, He 
commanded, and they were created." 3 He was placed 




1 Heb. i. 3. 2 St. John i. 1, 3. 3 Psalm xsxii. 9. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



129 



over the creation which He awoke out of nothing by 
the command of His will. To Him said the Ancient 
of days, " Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever ; a 
sceptre of justice is the sceptre of Thy kingdom." 1 
In the material world He reigns supreme where there 
is no resistance to His will ; and as the light sparkles 
with joy to show forth His praise, so on every side 
throughout the vast creation, earth, air, and sea, the 
firmament with its myriad wonders, and the heavens 
peopled with the morning stars, declare His greatness. 
" Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth, and 
their words unto the end of the world. There are no 
speeches nor languages where their voices are not 
heard." 2 Throughout the realm of unintelligent na- 
ture, the King of kings speaks and is obeyed, and the 
echoes of His voice come back with responsive music 
from every corner of His domain. " The Lord reign eth 
and is clothed with beauty." "His magnificence is 
lifted above the heavens." u The floods lift up their 
voice with the noise of many waters." 3 " The moun- 
tains and the hills sing praise before Him, and all the 
trees of the field clap their hands." 4 

Only in the intelligent natures of His hand has 
there been discord, where in vain the brightness of 
the Father's glory has shone, and the music of His 
voice has been unheard. In the spiritual creation, 
where at His word souls have come into being endowed 
with power to know and will, there has been rebellion, 



' Heb. i. S. 

B Psalm xviii. 4, 5. 



3 Psalm viii. 2 ; xcii, 1-4. 
* Isaias lv. 12. 



130 



THE DIYIXE SANCTUARY. 



and the Word of God has commanded, and it has not 
been done. So near to Himself is this wondrous faculty 
of will, that the prolific Creator has raised up being 
that may resist His great designs, and wreck itself. No 
life that comes from His power can return to nothing, 
yet the shores of utter nothingness are not half so 
drear as the land of darkness whence the human will 
has driven the fertilizing Word, the bleak realm where 
the hand of the Creator remains without His light or 
praise. 

So there is a mystery of mysteries ; a world of intel- 
ligence where the Son of the Highest expresses the 
attributes of the Trinity to ears that refuse to hear, 
where He makes all His goodness pass before the eye 
in vain, where disorder dwells, and the discordant 
sounds of unsatisfied pride and restless passion, take 
the x>lace of the music of the heavens. 

How shall the Word of God reclaim His lost heritage 
and reduce the realm of rebel intelligence to obedi- 
ence ? How shall He reign again ; command silence 
where harmony is unknown, and assuming His rightful 
title, sx>eak to the heart and soul of the sinner \ Will 
He " bow down His heavens and come down ? Will 
He touch the mountains and send forth lightning, and 
scatter His enemies ? Will He send forth His arrows 
and consume them ? " 1 He has but to will, and all 
resistance melts away; to unsheathe His glittering 
sword, and the mightiest foe falls beneath His touch. 
Shall creation behold another scene as grand as that 



1 Psalm cxliii. 5, 6. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 131 



which awoke the praise of Seraphim, when from the 
voice of the con substantial Son, the universe arose 
with its far-reaching beauty in the void, and the 
chorus of myriad thanksgivings came up from the 
silence of chaos ? 

Ho, far different shall be the scene which the angel 
hosts shall see, when the Word goes forth to battle 
with His foes, and " the Lord makes bare His arm in 
the sight of the nations," 1 and " His right hand works 
for Him salvation." 2 Heaven shall bow down and 
earth shall tremble with amazement. " The Lord hath 
created a new thing upon the earth : a woman shall 
compass a man." 3 " Behold a virgin shall conceive 
and bear a son, and His name shall be called Emman- 
uel.' 5 4 " Found in fashion as a man," He shall fully 
reveal Himself only on the cross, where in death He 
shall bring forth light and life, and awake a new 
world, a world redeemed by His blood. Before the 
nations shall He stand their only deliverer, not in the 
heavenly purple which He wears upon the throne, but 
"clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood." 
Then in the crimson letters formed by His own bleed- 
ing hand, His great name shall be made known, and 
" the Word of God " shall reign from Calvary. There 
shall He speak and be heard ; and not by will alone 
shall He teach His redeemed. The blood upon His 
vesture and all His raiment shall proclaim the power 
of His salvation. "Who is this that cometh from 



1 Is. lii. 10. 

2 Psalm zcvii. 1. 



3 Jereraias xxxi. 22. 

4 Isaias vii. 14. 



132 



THE DIVIDE SAXCTUAfiY. 



Edoin, with dyed garments from Bosra, this beautiful 
one in His robe, walking in the greatness of His 
strength ? I that speak justice, and am a defender to 
save. Why then is Thine apparel red, and Thy gar- 
ments like theirs that tread in the winepress ? I have 
trodden the winepress alone. I looked and there was 
none to help ; I sought and there was none to give aid ; 
therefore My own arm hath wrought salvation for Me." 1 
The precious blood hath a voice louder even than 
the tongue of the consubstantial Word. See how from 
the fountain of the Sacred Heart it gushes forth, and 
flows as if instinct with divine life. Down in the 
waste places of our lost humanity, where death and 
corruption spread their noisome infection, joyfully it 
goes. The red drops sparkle where in the blighting 
of the sinner's heart innocence and peace have taken 
their flight, and the chill desert has neither smile nor 
fruit. The crimson torrent runs on till the last beating 
of the divine heart exhausts itself, and then, because it is 
the blood of God, it travels on in its redeeming course. 
Life and beauty spring out of death at its touch. 
Purity comes forth in all its guileless freshness, where 
but now was the damp of decay ; and the dry desert 
grows green again, and blossoms as the rose, with 
flowers that bloom for paradise. " And He showed 
me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding 
from the throne of God, and of the Lamb." 2 O what 
songs of praise shall we sing to the precious blood ! It 
was the offering of the Sacred Heart for our complete 



1 Isaias lxiii. 1-5. 



2 Apoc. xxii. 1. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 133 



salvation. It was the tribute of its love for sinful man. 
All it had it gave and poured out to the last drop. 
There is nothing more this Heart can do. Yet do I 
hear in its mute but all creating language the voice of 
the Word of God. He comes to the desolate earth 
where worse disorder than that of chaos prevails, and 
again He speaks to renew His work. The flowing of 
the voiceless blood touches my heart and soul, and 
awakes a response in my whole being. I see Him in 
His red garment, so humble, so bowed down, so 
crushed for love of me. My love responds to His, and 
my voice awakes where His is so still. He will touch 
me with His bleeding hands, and heal me ; wrap me in 
His crimson vesture, and I shall be His child again. 
He shall wash me in His blood, and I shall be whiter 
than snow. Earth and sense shall die away from my 
sight, and His bleeding form shall be ever present to 
me. He did not win my obedience from the glory of 
His Father's throne, but now He hath bought me by 
this wondrous price, and He shall rule me from the 
Cross. Mercy shall follow me all my days, and crown 
my last breath, for the Word hath spoken to me, and 
the Heart which poured out all its blood hath had 
pity upon me. 



XX. 



Heart of Jesus, Crushed with Grief 
for our Sins, have mercy upon us. 

" My tears have been My bread day and night." 

" Deep cat 7 let h on deep at the noise of Thy flood-gates : all 
Thy heights and Thy billows have passed over Me" — 
Ps. xli. 4, 8. 

rip HE sorrows of our biessed Lord were beyond all 
comprehension in themselves. The blows of the 
cruel executioners were laid heavily upon Him, and 
His divine nature both held Him up to bear the load 
and added to the keenness of the pain. Yet beyond 
all this weight of superhuman suffering was His con- 
stant grief for us. He took our place beneath the out- 
stretched arm of justice, and "bore our sins in His own 
body." 1 " He hath borne our infirmities and carried 
our sorrows." 2 Thus in a wonderful way did He be- 
come conscious of our sins, not simply by the sight of 
omniscience which beholds all hearts, but also by their 
very burden upon His soul. They came near to Him 
in their number, weight, and measure, with all their 
aggravations, that He might sorrow for them, and for 



1 1 St. Peter ii. 24. 



2 Isaias liii. 4. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY", 



135 



them make atonement. In His passion, therefore, there 
is this especial woe added to all the tortures inflicted 
upon Him. He had not only to satisfy rigorously for 
our transgressions, but also to grieve for them in our 
place. Beholding the true malice of our sins, all their 
offence against the divine purity, and their ruin of our- 
selves ; the load of our iniquities crushed His most ten- 
der heart, and brought upon Him a new and inexpres- 
sible sorrow. This is a proof alike of His mercy and 
of our share in the most acute of all His sufferings. 
And by the strange anomalies of grace, this very pang 
is a new bond to unite us to our Redeemer, and a new 
claim upon His pity. The sins for which He so grieved, 
He yearns to forgive. The burden He so patiently bore 
is lifted from our shoulders and placed upon His. The 
wandering sheep is taken from the briers of the desert 
and carried home, that it may stray no more. " Re- 
joice with Me, because I have found My sheep which 
was lost. " 1 We cry for mercy then to the divine 
Heart which we crushed with grief for our sins. Our 
petition shall ascend where mercy waits for our call, 
where our contrition may ease the burden of our Re- 
deemer. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to teach us the 
nature of this grief which so overwhelmed the sympa- 
thies of God made man. 

To understand this abyss of superhuman woe, we 
must look more closely into the interior of the all- 
knowing and infinitely-loving Heart of Jesus. That 
Heart, in the burning light of the divine essence, looks 



1 St. Luke xv. 6. 



136 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



continually to God with the supremest worship of His 
attributes, and from that light its gaze can never be 
withdrawn. Sin by the intelligent agent is the direct 
attack of the creature upon the attributes and sove- 
reignty of the Creator. As far as it may, it seeks to 
inflict an injury upon the power, wisdom, goodness, 
and mercy of the Most High. The love of the angels 
droops in wonder and sorrow at this attempt upon the 
supreme Majesty. Much more does the heart of the 
God-Man bow down with grief at the sight which in 
its divine knowledge it alone can comprehend. Infi- 
nite power meets the shock of created strength and 
allows itself to be assailed and seemingly thwarted. 
The free will which that omnipotence called into being 
will not be annihilated. Creating strength goes out 
to support in life the very forces which array them- 
selves against the Creator. One act of will could blot 
them out of being, and dissipate to nothing their 
malice. That act will never take place. Against the 
buckler of the Almighty the sinner rushes as if he were 
contending with an equal. " He hath stretched out 
his hand against God and hath strengthened Himself 
against the Almighty.' 1 1 He that ruleth in heaven is 
laughed to scorn on earth, and the powers of the world 
seemingly triumph against Him. No one is so desolate 
on earth as the king of the heavenly armies, the om- 
nipotent power which supports universal being. 

And doth not the creature daily call in question the 
wisdom of the Creator, who seems to create only to be 



1 Job xv. 25. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 137 



assailed by the work of His hand ? Why did He create, 
knowing well the result of creation ? Why did He 
people the universe with intelligences who should turn 
against Him, and raise up the discord of jarring wills 
in the harmony of the spheres ? Is it wise thus to hold 
in being the adversaries of His greatness, and so far 
contribute to the war of creatures upon His attributes? 
Alas ! man blind to all the higher inspirations of his 
nature, does not see how the wisdom of a God makes 
all things equal, and even from the rebellion of free 
intelligences gathers glory. This will be made mani- 
fest when the probation of the creature ends, and the 
divine greatness displays its hand before the purified 
eyes of saints. Without freedom of will there could be 
no sanctity ; and in this freedom, with all its risks and 
possibilities, we behold the depths of an infinite know- 
ledge. 

The goodness of the Creator is so far above us, that 
our sins attack it in its most vulnerable point and seem 
to bring it to nought. That supreme goodness is the 
inspiration of the whole work, and yet in the hands of 
the sinner it suffers most. Evil raises up its head in 
the home of innocence where the Triune Maker showed 
His face and left the marks of His presence. Evil 
drives the good away, spoils the treasures of grace, and 
expels the influences of the divine Spirit. That which 
came pure from the hand of God is corrupted, and 
vice rules where virtue has a rightful dwelling-place. 
The spoiler enters the most sacred sanctuary, and robs 
the supreme Goodness of all the objects of its love, 
even of the last traces of its image. Its wonderful 



138 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



work is so degraded that there is no tit place on earth 
for its dwelling. Hell with its fires must kindle around 
it, and "the victim must be salted with salt, where 
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished." 1 
Who is like unto God ? Who like Him can feel this 
affront to His infinite holiness, when wilful sin attacks 
His goodness and robs it of its effect ? 

Mercy deep as the unfathomable being of the Trinity- 
waits unto the end, to gather from the ruins of this 
conflict some tribute to His praise. And mercy shall 
only more expose the Omnipotent to injury, and open 
in the breast of the loving Creator new possibilities of 
suffering. The Three in One shall take counsel to- 
gether for man's recovery. The eternal Son shall be- 
come man, shall take a human body and a human 
heart, shall bleed and die in our stead and to pay the 
penalty of our offences. We will ignore and despise 
His love. We will even question the possibility of 
God suffering in our nature, argue upon the capacity 
for pain which dwelt in the God-Man, and at least put 
from our view the reality of the woe we cannot com- 
prehend. If a mere man had died for us, we might be 
grateful. If God chose to die for us, it is only one of 
His wondrous ways, beyond the reach of our contem- 
plation. Some shall in the spoiling of His humanity 
forget the deity and deny the Godhead of the sufferer. 
Sin like a torrent shall rush around the cross, and the 
bleeding Heart excite to no pity. Let tears be the 
bread of the Incarnate God, day and night. Let the 



1 St. Mark ix. 47, 48. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



139 



flood-gates of grief be opened. The Most High has 
laid down His power and glory. Let the deep call 
unto deep, and the height of waves and storms dash 
over Him. The crushed and broken Heart shall in its 
cry of anguish give one response. It shall be the plea 
for mercy : " Father forgive them, for they know not 
what they do." 1 

So have our sins the power to overwhelm the loving 
nature of our Redeemer. What but a divine love 
could bear this pressure and not fail? Yet there is 
another view besides this of the attributes of God 
assailed by our iniquities. We in our guilty souls and 
bodies are the eternal losers, and for this loss the most 
compassionate Heart of Jesus grieves. Who but God 
can count the sorrows which flow from even one single 
sin ? Who but He can know the devastation which 
like a devouring scourge comes from the first fountain 
of evil ? He alone can see the possibilities of holiness 
which are within our reach, the accumulations of merit 
and reward which might be ours. Jesus, the Word 
made flesh, can alone rightly estimate the value of in- 
nocence or the beauty of sanctity, for to know this 
rightly is to see God. Well may we w r eep for all our 
numberless offences during the unworthy lives we have 
led. They were our rebellions against our Creator, 
they were our acts of cold ingratitude to the Sacred 
Heart, but they were also our inconceivable loss for 
time and eternity. We cannot bear their weight before 
the sight of justice, or the judgment of our own con- 



1 St. Luke xxiii. 34. 



140 THE DIVIKE SAKCTUAKY. 



science. Beneath the grievous load we fall prostrate 
and hopeless. There is only One who can bear our 
burden and take away our condemnation. He is God 
as well as man. The stripes for our sins are laid upon 
His shoulders, yet He stands all gracious to receive the 
scourge. The smile of mercy is still on His Godlike 
face. But when our crimes touch Him and the load 
of our ingratitudes presses upon His bleeding wounds, 
He falls to the earth as one stricken of God, and His 
heart is crushed. Well is it for us that there is One 
who can worthily grieve for our manifold transgres- 
sions, and whose tears by day and night may be ac- 
cepted before the tribunal of infinite holiness. It is 
beyond all things sad to think that we have caused 
the sorrows of our Incarnate Lord, that we by our sins 
have crushed with grief His most tender Heart. But 
herein is our hope that the night of our sorrow maybe 
turned into a day of unending joy, when mercy comes 
from that unfailing fountain, and our own true tears 
are mingled with those of our Redeemer. From deep 
sorrow love shall be bom, and from love eternal union. 



XXL 



Heart of Jesus, still Outraged by 
Ungrateful Men, in the Sacrament 
of Love, have mercy upon us. 

" Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved 
them unto the end." — St. John xiii. i. 

TN the petition of this day we plead before God a 



new and more wonderful sorrow of the Sacred 
Heart. We have not yet seen the depths of its bitter- 
ness, nor measured the abyss of woe into which Love 
incarnate descended. It was necessary for the risen 
and glorified humanity of the Son of God to ascend to 
its place of triumph in heaven. " It is expedient for 
you that I go." " I go to prepare a place for you in 
the many mansions of My Father." " I will not leave 
you orphans : I will come to you." 1 The reign of the 
God-Man at the right hand of the Father was only the 
preparation for His Eucharistic kingdom. He was to 
find a more wonderful way to be with us, and to draw 
closer to Himself the bodies and souls of His chosen. 
" Having loved His own who were in the world, He 
was to love them to the end." Love seeks for union, 




1 St. John xvi. 7 ; xiv. 2, 18. 



142 



THE DIYIXE SAXCTUAEY. 



and the Word made flesh could not rest until in His 
own person He had brought to the Father the children 
of His adoption. There is to be a presence worthy of 
a God, and a union like unto that which subsists be- 
tween the three adorable persons of the Trinity. " As 
I live by the Father, so He that eateth Me shall live by 
Me." 1 " That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, 
in Me, and I in Thee : that they may also be one in 
us." 2 Leaving us by His visible presence, which had 
been the joy of the Apostles, He w r as to become still 
nearer to us, and His love was to find out a new means 
to satisfy His longing for our embrace. Apostles saw 
with their eyes, heard with their ears, handled with 
their hands the Word of life. 3 A greater mystery was 
to be enacted when in the adorable sacrament the 
bread and wine were to be changed into His body and 
blood, and the sacrifice of the cross was to be continued 
to the end of time. He loved Calvary with all its 
horrors, because it spoke of the pains which bought 
our souls. So Calvary is to stand on every Christian 
altar where the victim of salvation shall be offered from 
the rising of the sun to its setting. Beneath the forms 
and appearances of bread and wine is the Lamb of 
God to abide, there to plead for our forgiveness, there 
to give Himself to those who will draw near and lose 
their earthly life in His divine energy. There on the 
altar is the Sacred Heart to continue its great work. 
The wound of the cross is to be wide open. The 
arms of the bleeding bridegroom are to be extended, 



1 St. John vi. 58. 2 St. John xvii, 21. 3 IE. St. John i. L 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



143 



that they may fold to His breast the penitent and 
pure. There is no foe that can enter this safe asylum. 
Grace performs its wonderful work, and justice has no 
claim where the Heart of Jesus beats in all its ful- 
ness. Who can worthily sing the canticles of praise 
for this nearer presence of our Beloved, or sufficiently 
magnify the glories of the divine Eucharist, where 
our Jesus is all our own, where the splendors of 
His heavenly pomp are laid aside, and we may draw 
near to touch Him, to embrace Him, to feed upon 
Him? Here close to us is the very Heart which 
loves us, in whose pity we have hope, and in whose 
exhaustless tenderness we find rest. Here is all we 
can seek, the unfailing fountain of strength and mercy. 
Here is the vision of our Redeemer which prepares for 
the beatific sight of God. 

Yet in this great condescension of the incarnate 
Word is a new and more terrible opportunity of grief; 
and if God come so nigh to us in His humanity that 
we may touch Him, He has placed Himself in our 
power that we may wound Him more keenly and pour 
upon Him the viols of ingratitude. In the flesh which 
he took of Mary, He placed Himself at the will of Jew 
and Gentile, and their will was to crush Him with 
ignominy and to crucify Him. In the adorable Eu- 
charist He descends still lower in the scale of godlike 
condescension, and leaves Himself all the world over 
in the power of our pity. We can love Him all the 
more for this great humiliation, and bring fervent 
adorations to His tabernacle, or we can ignore His 
presence and outrage Him by insult and injury. He 



144 



THE DIVIDE SA^CTUABY. 



is in our hands that we may do with Him as we will. 
So where love stoops the lowest and the divine tender- 
ness is the most exposed, the Sacred Heart shall feel 
the keenest pain. It is all alive to the great glory of the 
Most High. It burns with consuming love for the lost 
and wretched children of men. It is more sensitive 
even than when on the cross it broke with grief, and 
recoiled from the centurion's spear. The extremest 
possibilities of tenderness are all open here before the 
gaze of man, and the Creator sues for mercy from His 
creatures. u Behold how I have loved you, how I love 
you still ; and spurn Me not in your day of grace. I 
am so abject and helpless before you, only for My great 
affection. Can you comprehend the heart of a God, 
or measure its wonderful ways ? O despise Me not, as 
here so lowly *I wait, until the capacities of mercy are 
exhausted." 

The annals of this suffering are written in the life 
of the Sacred Heart, and are known only to God. The 
new mystery of love is anew way of outrage and grief 
to the humiliated Redeemer. There is the wound 
of indifference and the wound of open profanation. 
There are those who " crucify to themselves the Son of 
God, and make Him a mockery," who "tread Him 
under their feet, and esteem the blood of the testa- 
ment unclean." 1 Of what fearful punishment, think 
you, shall they be found worthy? 

Indifference has its every degree, from the careless 
devotion of divided hearts to the utter forgetfulness 



1 Heb. vi, 6 ; x. 29. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



145 



of the presence of God. There are those who know 
where to find the Heart of their Lord, who seldom seek 
Him, or very soon tire of His company. The world 
attracts with its pomps and vanities. They cannot 
carry Him into the assembly of the ungodly, or think 
of His purity in the revel and the glitter of earth. 
The aim of their ambition keeps out of sight His patient 
silence and warning face. It is a face of love, but a 
face of fearful power, which changes with our various 
moods, and speaks feelingly to our needs and danger. 
It is sad when creature-love comes to drive Him from 
His rightful throne ; full of tears when we fall into the 
misery of sin ; or even threatening when the tempter 
blinds our eyes with the glare of earthly light, and 
presents to our lips the gilded cup of sensual pleasure. 
Like the beacon to the storm-tossed mariner, it shines 
amid the darkness and tempest of the night. Love in 
all its phases, it calls us back to the divine sanctuary, 
to the only hope of rest, to the only breast where we can 
find peace. So, few are they who seek it and ever dwell 
within its brightness, whose hearts are true and pure, 
because they have tasted and know the Heart of God. 
The tabernacles are deserted. The worshippers around 
the altar are few. Silently and sorrowfully the Man of 
grief continues His weary way, offering Himself clay 
by day to the Father, and abiding alone with His 
angels. There are the infinite treasures of grace, 
streams that could make glad and fertile the most 
desolate and barren land. Yet all unused is this 
mighty power which waits in the sacrament of 
love. 



146 



THE DIVIDE SA]S T CTUAEY. 



How few are there who hunger and thirst after Him, 
the only bread of life ? How few in the desert of this 
earth look longingly to the altars of the living God ? 
4i As the hart panteth after the fountains of waters, so 
my soul panteth after Thee, O God. My soul hath 
thirsted after the strong living God : when shall I 
come and appear before Thy face ? " 1 

In those who love little, the Sacred Heart in the 
Blessed Sacrament is deeply outraged where the world 
and the creature are preferred to the Creator. The 
beauty which fades in a day is prized ; the gains which 
crumble to dust are sought after; the imperishable 
beauty of the Almighty has no value, and the lights of 
time are preferred to those of eternity. And where mutu- 
al love has drawn the closer bonds of affection, and Jesus 
has given out His heart to His chosen whom He has 
espoused, there is the possibility of a deeper injury and 
a more frightful wound. He in His great tenderness 
has no other name for his embrace, but the espousal 
of an unending union. " Thou art My sister, My 
spouse. Thou art a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed 
up. Thou art all fair, My love, and there is not a spot 
in thee." 2 O how the slightest indifference, the slight- 
est forgetfulness, the least unloving look or word, can 
wound Him. u O merciful Jesus, I would not have 
Thee less tender and true ; but would that I could be 
always awake to Thy jealous and far-reaching love. 
After all Thy patience with me and Thy preference of 
me, how it would grieve me to wound Thee, or show 



1 Psalm xli. 1, 3. 



2 Canticles iv. 7, 12. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



147 



myself unmindful of what Thou art to me, and what 
Thou hast done for me." 

With what words can we speak of the outrage to the 
Sacred Heart in the Blessed Sacrament, of which they 
are guilty who openly profane the mystery of His con- 
descension? There are those who deny the reality of 
His presence, and bow not the knee nor the heart 
before their Maker in His greatest act of mercy. As 
the Jews before the cross, so they pass by the altar 
and wag their heads : " It is not the Son of God." 

There are those who in words profess their faith, and 
in life and conduct deny Him. Declaring the flesh of 
Christ to be the bread of life, they starve their souls, 
and yet speak as if heaven could one clay be their 
home. Believing in the true presence of God upon 
the altar, they have no homage for Him, nor becoming 
reverence for that " consuming fire " before which all 
earth should tremble. What shall w T e say of those 
unhappy souls who draw near His tabernacles in wil- 
ful sin and " partaking unworthily of this divine food, 
are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." 1 

Can there be a sin of deeper dye, or a more flagrant 
outrage upon the patient and humbled Redeemer? 
Here even more than on Calvary is His breast laid 
bare, and exposed to the numberless arrows of our 
ingratitude. The life of the Sacred Heart on earth 
was numbered by three and thirty years. It began 
with the stable at Bethlehem, and ended with the 
violent death of the cross. It is the history of a love 



1 1 Cor. xi. 27. 



148 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



far surpassing that of men, which the infinite mind 
alone can comjDrehend. Yet is it the history of indif- 
ference, ingratitude, and outrage ; of a God humbled, 
despised, and seemingly crushed by His creatures. 

The life of the Sacred Heart in the blessed Eucharist 
has endured for nineteen centuries, and will last until 
the Word of God shall put off " His vesture dipped in 
blood," and appear with the robes of judgment. Until 
the day of wrath He will await in hope and patient 
endurance of our neglect and injuries. " He shall not 
contend nor cry out, neither shall any man hear His 
voice in the streets. The bruised reed He shall not 
break, and smoking flax He shall not extinguish." 1 
Yet who can number the sorrows of the loving Heart 
of Jesus during the long watches of its Eucharistic 
life ? It seems as a perpetual Gethseniane, where sad- 
ness shrouds the glory of the Highest, tears gush from 
the eyes of Mary's Son, and the pierced " hands are 
dropping with myrrh, and the beautiful fingers are 
full of the choicest myrrh." 2 

To those who love Him, He seems still to say, " My 
soul is sorrowful even unto death ; stay you here and 
watch with me." 3 The night is long and the pain is 
keen and the burden of My disappointment and loneli- 
ness is heavy indeed. Yes, Saviour dear, we hear Thy 
plaintive voice. Thou hast won our hearts. Before 
Thy tabernacles will we kneel with the tribute of our 
adoring affection. We loved Thee all the more when 



1 St. Matt. sii. 19, 20. 2 Canticles v. 5. 

3 St. Matt. xxvi. 38. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



149 



we saw Thee in thy crimson robe bending beneath the 
heavy cross. We love Thee still better now where 
Thy tenderness has reached the summit of its godlike 
greatness, where Thou hast stooped so low that Thou 
mightest touch and embrace our nothingness. O take 
us all to Thy Heart, and in its innermost recesses hide 
us, that henceforth there may be neither sight nor 
sound which is not of Thee. Thy face is the glimpse 
of heaven, before which all things created fade away. 
Thy voice is music to our ears, lifting soul and sense to 
the melody of angels. For here, even in Thy unspeak- 
able sadness, is Thy patience glorified, and Thy tear- 
ful voice before the throne proclaims the reign of mercy. 
Life, grace, glory in quickening streams flow from the 
divine Altar where beats the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 



PART THIRD. 

THE OFFICES OF THE SACRED HEART. 



XXII. 



Heart of Jesus, Refuge of sinners, 
have mercy upon us. 

"Because Thou, 0 Lord, art my hope ; Thou hast made 
the Most- High thy refuge. There shall no evil come near 
to thee j nor shall the scourge come near thy dwelling" — 
Psalm xc. 9, 10. 

Tin HE knowledge of the evil of sin leads to the 



understanding of the mercy of God. Only they 
who by true contrition have purified their minds to 
draw near the divine purity, and have become able to 
bear the searching beams of the heavenly light, can 
know how fearful it is to transgress the law of God. 
" Thine own wickedness, saith the prophet, shall 
reprove thee, and thine apostasy shall rebuke thee. 
Know thou and see, that it is an evil and a bitter 
thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God, and to 
have forsaken His fear." 1 The sinner can never 
measure his own vileness. When the red drops of 
the atoning blood have washed away his defilement, 
he begins to see how polluted he was, and how 
degraded before the innocent and pure. And if that 
beginning of conversion were not tempered with the 




x Jeremias ii, 19. 



154 THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 

healing light of the sun of justice, he would sink in 
despair, and hope would die out forever. There is so 
heavy a burden that mortal shoulders fail beneath it. 
The stains of guilt are so deep and dark, that there 
seems no possibility to remove them. As the light 
draws nearer to us, they shine like scars telling of all 
our past and fearful wounds. It seems as if the 
light heart of innocence would never return, and as 
if the sj3irit could never be free from the galling 
chains of a hideous slavery. The understanding is 
full of darkness, the will still responds to the calls of 
the tempter ; and the memory is peopled with gloomy 
spectres which testify of battles lost, and the triumphs 
of our malignant foe. There is blood upon our gar- 
ments and upon our consciences. It is not the blood 
of man, nor of our own ruined humanity. It is the blood 
of God which we have so ruthlessly shed ; the cleans- 
ing stream warm from the side of our Redeemer, 
which we have despised and trodden under our feet. 
The baptism of tears must be added to the baptism of 
blood, and the deep sense of sinfulness prepare the 
way for the wonders of redeeming grace. The deep 
of our nothingness calls unto the more unfathomable 
deep of divine love. The Sacred Heart of the Word 
made flesh comes before us to cheer and encourage our 
hopes. Thither we turn our weeping eyes, and through 
the clouds of the night behold the promise of the dawn. 
u The clay-star comes forth in its time, and the even- 
ing-star arises upon the children of the earth." 1 We 



1 Job xxxviii. S2. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 155 



have contemplated some of the glories of this great 
Heart. We have sought to know something of its 
terrible woes. With the inspiration of our medita- 
tions, let us now seek to understand better the offices 
which the most loving Heart of Jesus discharges 
towards us, and to " comprehend with all the saints 
the breadth and length and depth and height of the 
charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge." 1 
If this Sacred Heart draws to itself the adoration of 
our whole being by the glories with which the blessed 
Trinity has clothed it ; if its incomprehensible sorrows 
excite our warmest sympathy and affections ; surely 
its wonderful work upon the souls of the redeemed 
will strengthen our confidence and animate our hope. 
Our advocate appears before us, and He will sustain 
our cause. With His almighty love He stoops to 
raise the sinner and take him to His bosom. Hence- 
forth there is one interest to our repentance and the 
life-giving pulsations of the Heart of Christ. He will 
be the refuge of the lost. He will sustain the trem- 
bling steps of the penitent, guide him through trial, 
and assure His perseverance. He will hold open the 
door of heaven, and no man can shut it. He will lead 
him through a victorious death to the crown of the 
just, and opening the temple of which He is the light, 
will give him eternal rest and delight upon His 
bosom. The open side of Jesus shall be the reve- 
lation of all that God is, the beatitude of the 
saints. 



1 Eph. iii. 18, 19. 



156 THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



Amid the storm and the conflict He is the safe 
refuge of the sinner. " The Lord Himself is our 
hope." He stretches His bleeding hands over us, and 
bids us trust in His mercy. " There shall no evil come 
near thee, nor shall the scourge come near thy dwell- 
ing." His pierced breast is our safe asylum, where no 
foe can harm us. The spear of the centurion hath 
done its worst, and can prevail no more. "In the 
secret place of His tabernacle He hath protected me, 
and in the day of evils He hath hidden me." 1 From 
the fear of the divine anger, from the attacks of 
unseen adversaries, from the sad consequences of my 
own sins, He is my refuge. " He is the protector of my 
life ; of whom shall I be afraid ? " 2 

The clouds of darkness which gather around the 
soul of the guilty and hang like an unearthly weight 
upon his conscience, are the signs of a retributive jus- 
tice for which reason calls. The intelligence of the 
sinner testifies that the arm of vengeance is uplifted 
and that it must fall. Who can stand before the 
Omniscient, or justify his cause before the judgment 
of the Most High ? " Into the holes of the rocks, and 
into the caves of the earth will the guilty shrink before 
| the face of the fear of the Lord, and the glory of His 
majesty, when He shall rise up to strike the earth." 3 
For the slightest act of rebellion there is no plea of 
excuse. For many and aggravated crimes there is a 
justice sharp and all-searching, which no creature can 
meet. " Can man be justified before God, or he that 



1 Psalm xxvi. 5. 



2 Ps. xxvi. 1. 



3 Isaias ii. 19. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



157 



is born of a woman appear clean ? Behold even the 
moon doth not shine, and the stars are not pure in His 
sight ! " Hell is naked before Him, and there is no 
covering for destruction. The pillars of heaven trem- 
ble and fear at His beck." 1 There is only one who 
can stand in the storm and take the full force of 
divine vengeance. He is God and man, and into His 
breast from the glittering quiver, the arrows shall 
come. From man's power the victim recoils not. 
From the thrust of the Father's hand He trembles, 
and from the broken Heart blood and water gush 
forth. Yet " it is finished ; " the price of our salva- 
tion is paid. Justice can ask no more. " Who shall 
accuse anything against the elect of God." 2 We fly 
to our new home, to our safe refuge in the bosom ot 
our crucified Lord. There the voice of fear shall not 
be heard, there pardon all divine celebrates its glad 
festival, there life springs forth and the dead live 
again. Between our souls and the sword of the 
Trinity, the hands mighty to save are lifted up ; the 
voice of divine command speaks peace, and " our sins 
and iniquities shall be remembered no more." 3 

And where God espouses our cause He will persevere 
to the end in a way all divine. Hidden in our safe 
asylum all our foes are His, and He will teach us how 
to vanquish them. There are the ranks of unseen adver- 
saries, "principalities and powers, the rulers of the 
world of this darkness, the spirits of wickedness in 



1 Job xxv. 4, 5 ; xxvi. 6, 11. 

2 Rom. viii. 33. 



3 Heb. x. 17. 



158 THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



high places." 1 They have power to torment us and 
call us to constant vigilance, to put to proof the 
strength of our armor. Yet vain are their arts, and 
impotent their malice against the shield of our faith. 
The walls of our refuge cast back harmless " all the 
fiery darts of the wicked one." Safely sheltered in the 
breast of our deliverer, resting on His bosom, how can 
we fear ? The love of Jesus disarms our foe, and he 
cannot prevail where the Sacred Heart makes us con- 
querors. We hear the voice of the tempter only to 
turn with new fidelity to our bridegroom. We see 
the baneful shadow of the malignant spirit only to 
shield ourselves the more in the uncreated light of our 
home. We live and act, and do our battle only to 
grow stronger in the Redeemer's might, and win new 
laurels for the standard of our King. 

For the consequences of sin and its fearful havoc 
upon our spiritual nature there is no remedy like the 
power and grace of the divine Heart. The constant 
stream of water and blood washes away every trace of 
past defilement. Purity grows in intensity and extent 
over all the faculties which are sanctified in the arms 
of Jesus. Memory and understanding and will lean 
upon His breast, and are cleansed, enlightened, and 
animated by the sacred life within. As that life moves, 
love goes forth with its quickening might. It is as if 
a new creation were at work, producing, day by day, 
new glories for the eye of God. Shadows depart from 
the memory, which becomes so full of the triumphs of 



1 Eph. vi. 12. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 159 



grace, that the days of darkness are forgotten. The 
intellect leams to bear more and more the heavenly 
light, and in its illumination to see the truths of faith 
and the wonders of redeeming mercy. And the will 
becomes so knit unto the pleasure and desire of its 
Beloved, that it cannot depart from the attraction of 
its Lord. " He that sanctifieth and they who are 
sanctified are all one," 1 and in unity and freedom the 
human wills move with the divine. Where the Heart 
of the Redeemer beats, there beat, as with one life, 
the hearts of His chosen. So the great transformation 
goes on. The sinner is drawn into the safe asylum, 
where the Most High has placed his refuge, and there 
the all-powerful hands form him to the likeness of his 
original, u to the image of a perfect man, to the mea- 
sure of the fulness of Christ." 

Well may we say that our refuge is complete, and 
that the attributes of God are magnified in our recov- 
ery. The Word speaks the will of the holy Trinity. 
He becomes man to stand in our stead and bear the 
punishment of our transgressions. And then when in 
indulgent love He knows we cannot tread our journey 
alone, nor even with His arms to uphold us, bear the 
gleaming of "the consuming lire," or the fiery darts 
of our foes, He opens His own side and there shields 
us, and uncreated life and redeeming mercy meet 
together on His breast. How shall the scourge ap- 
proach us, or any evil draw near our holy dwelling? 
Only as we would not crucify afresh the Son of God, 



1 Hub. ii. 11. 



1G0 THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 

nor do despite to His precious blood, let us draw close 
to our sacred home, with earnest faith, sincere sorrow 
for our past, and true affection. When our selfish 
pride is laid low, and our wayward wills are chastened, 
then shall we enter in and find our rest. " Then mercy 
shall follow us all the days of our life, and we shall 
dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." 1 



2 Psalm xxii. 6. 



XXIII. 



Heart of Jesus, Strength of the 
Weak, have mercy upon us." 

" Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the 
feeble knees!' " For you are come to Mount Sion, and to 
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to 
the company of many thousands of angels ; and to Jesus, 
the mediator of the New Testament, and to the sprinkling 
of blood which speaketh better than that of Abel."—HvB. 
xii. 12, 22, 24. 

vt rpO them who receive Him our divine Eecleemer 
gives power to be made the sons of God. And 
they are born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the 
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 1 In this 
new birth are comprehended ail the faculties and attri- 
butes of a new life which is far above our earthly life. 
As far as heaven is removed from earth, so distant is 
the glory of our spiritual birth from the heritage of 
nature. In the natural birth we bear the image of the 
first Adam and share his curse and corruption. In the 
second birth we put on the new man, which is Christ, 
the Lord from heaven. " Such as is the heavenly, such 
are also they that are heavenly. And as we have borne 



1 St. John i. 12, 13. 



162 THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



the image of the earthly, we must bear also the image 
of the heavenly. Corruptible is to put on incorrup- 
tion, mortal is to put on immortality, and death is to 
be swallowed up in victory," 1 yet the stages of this 
process of sanctification and glorification are in the 
gradual development of the divine power in us, and 
the slow conquest by which the Holy Spirit wins all 
our faculties to His service. Before the true life can 
wholly reign in us, there must be the death of the nat- 
ural man, and the complete surrender of pride and 
self-love to the great Master in whom we lose ourselves. 
"That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it 
die first." 2 " We are buried with Christ by baptism 
into death, and are planted together in the likeness of 
His death," 3 and we can only hope to live with Him 
by dying with Him. Thus weakness comes before 
strength, as death precedes the resurrection. It is the 
part of the divine plan to transform His chosen by 
teaching them their own nothingness, and casting them 
utterly helpless upon the strong arms of His mercy. 
So the most wise and jealous lover of souls moulds and 
fashions the vessels of grace and makes them wholly 
His own. This lesson of our nothingness is the bitter 
but salutary remedy for the mortal disease of pride. 
Here patience must have its perfect work, and courage 
will be crowned, and self-will die forever. It is the 
office of the Sacred Heart to be our strength in this 
great trial, to hold up our faltering steps, to " lift up 
the hands which hang down and the feeble knees," to 



1 1 Cor. xv. 53, 54. 2 1 Cor. xv. 36. 3 Rom. vi. 4-3. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



163 



open to our eyes as they can bear it, the sight of Mount 
Sion, toward which we are journeying. In the midst 
of our weariness and the saddening experience of our 
own misery, there shines a cheering light, with promise 
of a brighter future. " The city of the living God re- 
veals itself to us, the home of our new birth, the heav- 
enly Jerusalem with its throng of angels." And Jesus, 
the Mediator of the New Testament, shows Himself to 
us, as we have never seen Him before. He is very 
near to us. His face speaks of a love we have never 
dreamed of, and His hands are stretched out to wel- 
come us where everlasting strength abides, and weari- 
ness is impossible. There is blood upon His head, and 
hands, and side, but it is not the blood which calls 
for justice. It is the crimson tide which runs full of 
mercy and grace. u There is a river, the stream 
whereof maketh the city of God joyful : the Most High 
hath sanctified therewith His own tabernacle." 1 Be- 
fore this blessed vision can be ours, we must leam the 
depths of our own weakness and descend into the val- 
ley of humiliation. 

Without God we can do nothing. Without Him we 
shall fall even below the honor of created nature, and 
abase the sacred likeness He has imprinted upon us. 
We cannot turn from sin without His aid, even though 
against Him we have prevailed to our own ruin. In 
our repentance we bring Him souls and bodies defiled, 
wills disordered, and affections wasted upon creatures. 
We abhor ourselves for what we have been, and yet 



1 Ps. xlv. 5. 



164 THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



return to the pollution which appalls us. We hate the 
evil and still cling to it, and vice however hideous as 
the monster of our guilty past, is able to attract us. 
God leads us patiently, and we follow Him so slug- 
gishly and with half-a verted faces. We think we have 
made some progress in the spiritual life, when a slight 
occasion or a sudden temptation seems to undo the 
work of years. What is there in us that the most pure 
eyes of the Immaculate can delight in ? We are such 
a contradiction to ourselves, promising and not per- 
forming, cherishing good and evil in our hearts at the 
same moment, as if we were under the dominion of two 
wills. Self after all seems to be our end, when we seek 
for the things that feed our pride, and are unwilling to 
bear the touch of the cross. Are we willing even to 
confess our own helplessness, and to cry out amid the 
waves which threaten to engulf us, U Lord save us, we 
perish ? " Subtle pride reigns, alas! too often over all 
our aspirations, and poisons the very atmosphere in 
which we live. " I am delighted with the law of God, 
according to the inward man ; but I see another law in 
my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and 
captivating me in the law of sin that is in my members. 
Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from 
this body of death." 1 There is only one remedy to 
this great evil, and one sure way of victory over this 
far-reaching pride of our own hearts. Let us be will- 
ing to die to ourselves and confess our own nothing- 
ness. It is a body of death. Let it be buried in the 



1 Rom. vii. 23-24. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 165 



grave forever. Self has been proved and found want- 
ing. Let it yield now once and forever to the strong, 
and die in the arms of its deliverer. There is one 
thing it can do. It can go to the worn and wearied 
feet of the Redeemer, and throw itself upon His al- 
mighty love. Let it there make its last act, and when 
it lives again, it shall be only as the will of the Word 
made flesh. Not in words only, but in deed, shall the 
dead wake again, when in the words of the apostle, 
Christ and His own are made one. u I am dead, that I 
may live to God : with Christ am I nailed to the cross. 
And I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me." 1 

As the Sacred Heart was the centre of life to all the 
humanity of Jesus, so is it the spring of vigor and 
newness to the weak who in union with His members 
partake of its strength. It beats to quicken day by 
day more and more our feebleness, to transform with 
the glow of health the features of those who live with 
the current of the precious blood. Here as death ad- 
vances, life springs forth. The natural man passeth 
away, and "the inward man is renewed day by day." 2 
Born in baptism from His wounded side, they who are 
His are nourished by His flesh and blood until the 
world of shadows recedes before the growing light of \ 
the world of realities. Where once sin reigned and 
left behind it the marks of decay and pollution, the 
Omnipotent has taken His royal seat, and in His un- 
created vigor all virtues come forth. From His pro- 
lific heart all power flows, and patience, meekness, 



1 Gal. ii. 19, 20. 



2 2 Cor. iv. 16. 



166 



THE DIVIXE SAXCTUAKY. 



virginal purity and loyal courage lift their blessed 
lights before His throne. ' 

Who is he then that trembles with fear, or desponds 
at the sight of his nothingness ? Who is he that grows 
weary on the steep mountain side, and faints as the 
rugged path leads upward ? Pilgrim to the city of the 
living God, thou art not travelling in thine own 
strength! Alone, long ago thou wouldst have failed 
and fallen from the precipice where the victims of 
pride are eternally wrecked. That thou hast learned 
thy weakness is the fruit of a nearness to thy deliverer 
which puts out one by one all created lights, and makes 
thee even lose the sight of thyself. The arms of God 
are around thee, and if thou wilt lean wholly on Him, 
thou shalt stumble no more. Welcome the great les- 
son which casts out self-love and leaves thy free will 
wholly in the hands of its Redeemer. In every sigh, 
in every faintness, in every humiliation, in the com- 
plete prostration of thy pride, thou shalt draw closer 
to the fountain of thy strength. The side of Jesus 
shall be nearer to thee, and the pulsations of the Sacred 
Heart give new vigor to thy purified nature. The 
seed which thou hast sown in tears and faith, is only 
dying that it may spring forth and bloom with fragrant 
life in the garden of thy Spouse, " when the winter is 
past, when the day breaks, and the shadows retire for- 
ever." 1 



1 Canticles ii. 11, IT. 



XXIV. 



Heart of Jesus, Comfort of the Af- 
flicted, have mercy upon us. 

" When thou s halt pass through the waters, I will be with 
thee, and the rivers shall not cover thee ; when thou shalt 
walk in the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, and the flame shall 
not burn in thee" — Isaiah xliii. 2. 

"The waters saw Thee, 0 God; the waters saw Thee 
and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled. Thy 
way is in the sea, and Thy paths in many waters, and Thy 
footsteps shall not be known" — Psalm lxxvi. 17, 20. 

TF our Blessed Lord chose to tread in the path of 
A affliction, and to cover His earthly dwelling 
with the clouds of grief, His children must be content 
to walk in His footsteps. A great lesson was taught 
us by His life of three and thirty years ; and the days 
of His pilgrimage were revelations of the divine pur- 
poses. He might have had some innocent joys, and 
the hours of the sun of justice need not have been all 
in shadow. Yet the stable of Bethlehem with its 
privations, the cold of winter, and the more chilling 
cold of human hearts, was a picture in anticipation of 
His future, and the lot he had chosen in the world. 
From even this shelter He was exiled to the land of the 
idolater, and, returning to the home of His nativity, 



168 



THE DIYIXE SANCTUARY. 



found refuge in utter obscurity. Poverty and hard 
labor were the choice of God incarnate. The divine 
tenderness dwelt in Hi in only to drink anew every day 
the cup of man's indifference or insult. The ties He 
formed were few, but they took upon themselves the 
proportions of deity. All that He loved, He loved 
with the strength of God. The holy family was the 
antechamber of heaven exposed to the rude blast of 
the world's violence. St. Joseph through Him saw 
the Father, and by the aid of the co-equal Spirit 
learned the mysteries of the Word made flesh. Be- 
tween Him and His spotless mother there was a bond 
far above all human comprehension. How ineffably 
He loved that mother, only the divine mind could 
know ; only a divine voice could tell. Before this tie 
between Jesus and Mary, all human ties fade into 
nothingness. Yet this great love and all His godlike 
affections were the source of the keenest affliction. 
Not only must there be separation, but for His sake 
the hearts of those dearest to Him must be plunged in 
the depths of sorrow. Grief befitting a God touched 
Him, and the waters which threatened to submerge 
Him, overflowed to sink in waves of woe the treasures 
of His Heart. His path was indeed in the sea of bit- 
terness, and His footsteps were not known. The 
waters of affliction saw Him, and feared as they 
clashed over Him ; and grief became incomprehensible 
when it touched the tabernacle of the Most High. 
We have meditated upon the sorrows of His passion 
and the shedding of the most precious blood. Yet 
beyond all this direct exercise of His priestly office, 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



169 



He chose to tread in the ways of affliction and crush- 
ing darkness. The Sacred Heart willed to shut out 
the voice of gladness, the joy of the bridegroom and 
the bride, and to draw around its divine sanctuary the 
curtains of grief. The home of incarnate love was in 
perpetual mourning, and where ever dwelt the immov- 
able tranquillity of God, there also dwelt the sadness 
of undying bereavement. " He willed in all things to 
be made like into His brethren, that He might become 
a merciful and faithful high-priest before God. For 
as He Himself hath suffered and been tempted, He is 
able to succor them also who are tempted." " So in 
the days of His flesh, with a strong cry and tears, 
offering up prayers and supplications to Him who was 
able to save Him from death, He was heard for his 
reverence. And whereas He was indeed the Son of 
God, He learned obedience by the things He suffered." 1 
The Sacred Heart was ever rinding new ways of sorrow 
in the intelligences open to its omniscience, and in whose 
unfeeling power it was placed. The world rejected 
Him with a complete indifference or open persecution. 
The few who professed to love Him were His perpetual 
trial by their inconstancy or infidelity. He was the 
light of the holy family as He is the sun of the heavenly 
temple. Yet the sorrow of that home was of the same 
wonderful nature as its joy. How could He keep the 
shadows from St. Joseph's face, or from His mother's 
heart, when the darkness that attended Him could 
not be concealed. God made Man was a laborer and 



1 Heb. ii. 17, 18 ;. v. 7, 8. 



170 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



a beggar; and that the spear might not pierce His 
breast before the time, was forced to hide His glory 
in the rags of poverty. And that home so blessed by 
His presence was not to last. It was only a temporary 
refuge, nntil the storm let loose should break upon it, 
and demoniac rage and human malice uproot its foun- 
dations. The great patriarch, image of the Ancient 
of Days, must be taken away by the hand of death. 
He had supported the youthful Virgin in the trials of 
the nativity. He is to be gathered to the fathers before 
the mightier conflicts of Calvary, and Mary is to be left 
alone. Soon from that sacred retreat is Jesus to go 
forth a beggar in the streets, and the mother is to have 
no home. Perhaps there was not a keener sorrow in 
His heart than the burden of that mother's grief in 
her loneliness, in her unsatiated desire to comfort Him. 
It is easier for the lover to bear his own pain than to 
be the source of sorrow to one dearer than life. In His 
wise counsels, in His thirst to drink of the cup of woe, 
the Son of Mary was ever pouring with a divine meas- 
ure the floods of grief upon the broken heart of His 
mother. He made that immaculate heart, and held it 
near His own. No seraph could ever know the close- 
ness of that embrace. And because it was so close to 
His, the precious blood sprinkled it, and the spear 
pierced it, and it broke with the pressure. Yet the 
loving Son could not relax His hold. He must bring 
closer and closer to His bosom the mother He loved 
more and more ; and the very transports of love were 
the heights of His passion. The glad ecstacy will one 
day find its place before the throne, when the Sacred 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 171 

Heart shall crown in the splendor of deity the lowly 
Virgin. But now the Red Sea is to be passed, and 
the cool waters of Jordan are to touch both mother 
and child. Well may the floods tremble when in their 
unquiet depths they touched the coequal Son of God, 
and Mary His mother. 

So has the compassionate breast of the Redeemer 
become the repose of the afflicted ; and the footsteps 
of our King are revealed to us in the unknown seas. 
Where He goes He leads His children, and guides 
them through the tempest. Afflictions come to the 
just with wonderful wisdom. They are more mighty 
teachers than the voices of a thousand joys. They are 
necessary to break the chains of earth and set free the 
spirit for its heavenly course. They are needed to 
wash away the stains of selfish love and creature-wor- 
ship. They open the windows of the world of faith, 
and force away the shadows of sense. They are hard 
to the struggling soul. They test its loyalty and 
truth, the sincerity of its vow to serve God alone. 
They touch where the heart is most tender, and with 
an unsparing hand break all idols in pieces. Some 
there are who are covered with the cloud, and made 
to dwell in bereavement. One after another of earth's 
treasures is taken away, until the world is a desert, 
and winter with its perpetual frost is around their 
dwelling. Yet this is to the wise and prudent the 
sign of some especial tenderness, a betrothal to the 
bleeding bridegroom. If they have strength to touch 
the nails and the spear, and bear the cross, they will 
know something of the loneliness of Jesus and Mary, 



172 



THE DIYIXE SA^CTUAEY. 



and in that knowledge will draw nearer the celestial 
home whence tears are forever banished. Yet before 
that day of reward, the pangs of exile must be felt, 
the dreary way must be travelled, and thick darkness 
prepare the eternal dawn. This was the wondrous 
path of the Master. It must be the road of the chosen 
souls who are espoused to Him in truth. The afflict- 
ed soul can find no comforter on earth. ISTo merely 
human sympathy can enter the secret chambers where 
is found the sacred presence of God. "Where His arm 
is stretched out, all created things seem far distant, 
and even the voices of friendship are unheard. " The 
Lord is in His holy temple," and silence is the meet 
worship of His hand. Yet He who strikes in love is 
almighty to heal, and the most gracious of all His 
ways are the displays of His justice to the purified 
soul. Here love begets love, and like produces like, 
and the sorrowing heart is conformed to its great 
original. 

Jesus is the comforter of such as turn to Him in 
the night of their grief. To them He opens the treas- 
ures which are hid in His bosom, and reveals to them 
the lesson of their sorrows. He places their afflictions 
among the many pangs of His own heart, and pours 
out upon them the richer tide of redeeming mercy. 
The tearful eyes are opened to behold the secrets of 
His wonderful side, and there the patient sufferers 
"wash their robes and make them white in the blood 
of the Lamb." There sounds the welcome voice of 
the Spirit and the bride. There arises in the dawn of 
an unendiDg day, " the bright and the morning star.*' 



XXV. 



Heart of Jesus, our Help in our 
many and great Tribulations, have 
mercy upon us. 

" And I heard a gj'eat voice from the thro7te, saying : Be- 
hold the tabernacle of God with men, and He will dwell 
with the?n. And they shall be His people ; and God Him- 
self with them shall be their God ; and He shall wipe away 
all tears from their eyes ; and death shall be no more, nor 
mounting, nor crying, nor sorrow. And He that sat upon 
the throne, said, Behold, I make all things new" — Apoc. 
xxi, 3-5. 

Hp HE shadows which enveloped the Sacred Heart of 



our Lord were far deeper than the sight of human 
eyes. He was pleased to dwell in the thick cloud, and 
to draw around His tabernacle every possible darkness. 
The exterior tribulations through which He passed 
were of a nature proportionate to the capacities of 
God made man. It seems incomprehensible that He 
alone of all the human race could never be without an 
abiding sorrow, nor ever taste one unalloyed earthly 
joy. The cup of exterior grief pressed to His lips 
would have destroyed the life of any one but God. 




174 



THE DIYIXE SAXCTUAEY. 



Yet if we venture to look within and behold the inte- 
rior woe which overwhelmed His holy soul, we shall 
be still more prostrated with wonder and awe. The 
Sacred Heart could never be at rest, while the precious 
blood which ran through it was not shed for man's re- 
demption. He was straitened until the baptism of 
blood was accomplished. Before His eyes were ever 
the pains He was to undergo, the tormeDts of His pas- 
sion, the outrages against His person and the adorable 
sacrament, the ingratitudes of mankind. Who could 
keep the future from the omniscient, or hide from His 
view the hearts of inconstant, untrue, and wicked men ? 
So the most susceptible and loving of all hearts was in 
perpetual shadow, which even the abiding light of 
deity could not dispel. " He was offered to this sorrow 
because He willed it," 1 and He took sorrow with His 
almighty hands and poured it out upon His soul. 

There was nothing He had or valued which He had 
not given up. He had " emptied Himself when He 
took the form of a servant, and was made in the like- 
ness of men.'' 2 And beyond this, when He was made 
man. He emptied Himself still more of all that was 
dear to Him, until He had nothing more that He could 
renounce. Honor among men, the appreciation of His 
character, gratitude for favors He bestowed, the re- 
turn of kindness were all renounced as if He had no 
right to the civilities or amenities of life. He became 
" a stranger to His brethren, and an alien to the sons 
of His mother." 3 He even gave the comfort of those 



1 Isaias liii. 7. 



2 Phil. ii. 7. 



3 Ps. lxviii. 9. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



175 



He loved best, and renounced the joys of the holy 
family, the quiet of His foster-father, and the dearest 
affections of His virgin mother. These were in His 
hands, and He gave them up as willingly as He gave 
His precious blood. 

He went further than this into the abyss of tribula- 
tion, where only the divine mind could follow Him, 
when mangled on the cross the sun hid his face, and 
He cried out, " My God, My God, why hast Tlwu for- 
saken Me." 1 There from His bleeding humanity and 
from His quivering soul' He hid all the consolations of 
His divinity, and forced Himself to feel "as a leper in- 
fected by the sins He bore, as one struck by God and 
afflicted." Who can tell of this night of darkness 
which He willed to bring upon the Sacred Heart ex- 
hausted of blood, and panting for the moment when at 
His word its agonizing beatings should cease ? 

Through these mysterious paths this loving bride- 
groom will lead His espoused, and they who would be 
near Him and know the closeness of His embrace must 
count the cost and see if "they are able to be baptized 
with His baptism." The true lovers of Jesus will not 
dwell in this world's light. The first sign that He is 
coming near to them is the eclipse of their earthly sun, 
the decline of the desire or the capacity for human 
joys. Others may " rejoice in their youth, and their 
hearts may cheer them in the days of their youth, and 
behold the light to be sweet and delightful for the 
eyes." 2 To them the glare of the world is sickly, and 



1 St. Matt, xxvii. 46. 



3 Eccles. xi. 7, 9. 



176 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



even in life's morning the snn and the moon and the 
stars are darkened. There is an attraction above all 
created things which draws them so mightily that they 
cannot rest in the vanities of earth. Even innocent 
joys are borne with, as if in anticipation of the realities 
of which they are shadows, and love of friends strong 
and pure only leads the heart to think the more of tbe 
jealous lover who seems to call them by His thousand 
voices. They are called to renounce what they hold 
dear ; but as He comes nearer to them by every act of 
sacrifice, they cannot murmur at His will. He cuts 
them off from the ties below, only to bind them ejoser 
to Himself and to teach them the rights of His be- 
trothal. The shadows in which they live are sweet to 
them, for even in the conflict with self, and the pros- 
tration of human pride, they are the tranquil home 
where the Unchangeable reveals Himself, and the 
Beauty ever ancient and ever new makes itself 
known, 

If they have anything of self-love left, it must be 
crushed in the hands of the gentle yet almighty Spouse. 
In the ways of renunciation they must follow the great 
Master. ; ' They must be tried upon earth and exer- 
cised in many things. They must put on the new man 
and be changed into another man. They must do that 
which is against their inclination, and forego that to 
which they are inclined. That which is pleasing to 
others shall go forward ; that which they would have 
shall not succeed. That which others say shall be 
hearkened unto ; what they say shall not be regarded. 
Others shall ask and shall receive ; they shall ask and 



THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 



177 



not obtain. Others shall be great in the esteem of 
men ; but of them no notice shall be taken." 1 

There is a darker night than this, through which 
chosen souls are often made to pass. It is chill and 
full of fear, for the face which attracts them seems to 
be hidden, and sometimes in great agony they are 
forced to exclaim, " My God, my All, why hast Thou 
forsaken me." The merciful bridegroom has led them 
far away from the vanities of earth. There is nothing 
in things created which can give them pleasure. They 
have come to feel how above all things dear is their 
Beloved. " His name is as oil poured forth. They are 
running after Him, drawn by the odor of His ointments 
and yearning for the kisses of His mouth." 2 And be- 
hold He has departed, and they are left alone in the 
desert. " I opened the bolt of my door to my Beloved, 
but He had turned aside and was gone. My soul 
melted when He spoke : I sought Him and found Him 
not; I called, and He did not answer me." 3 

Now the shadows thicken upon the lonely heart, and 
the chilling night frightens the pilgrim. The spectres 
of the past arise, and every sin of former years takes 
shape and stands up for self-accusation. Offences 
against the loving-kindness of God which were long ago 
forgiven and perhaps forgotten, seem to speak the 
words of condemnation. Stains of defilement which 
were washed away in the atoning blood seem to be 
crimson again, and the whole being sinks under the 
sense of sinfulness. u Can I be the spouse of the Im- 



1 Im. of Christ, iii. 49. 



2 Cant. i. 1, 2. 



Cant. v. 6. 



178 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



maculate, or can such a one as I draw near the infinite 
purity ? " 

Then the will seems to have no power against these 
spectres of the night. They will not depart at its 
command. The spirits of evil with their baneful in- 
fluence are abroad, and stretch their poisonous wings 
above the exiled soul. Thoughts of sin run riot within 
the very sanctuary of God's presence. The animal 
nature arises to do its battle, and suggestions of evil 
and struggles of infidelity fill the vacant mind from 
which light seems to have gone. The heart which 
really loves God above all things, which will have no 
lover but Him, seems to be a captive in the outskirts 
of its father's courts. It will not have the world. It 
cannot see its Beloved. The cloud overshadows it and 
the eclipse covers it. 

u Take courage, thou that art so dear to the unfading 
Light and the eternal Beauty. Thou art in the paths 
of the Sacred Heart, and in the hands of one mightier 
than thou. It is no desert where thou art travelling, 
nor can that be called darkness in which the Sun of 
joy only hides Himself. Thou art so dear to thy Jesus 
that for very love He must lead thee in His own foot- 
steps, and teach thee how to wholly cast away thyself 
and lean upon Him. Thy tribulation is great and thy 
trial keen, but thy patience will be crowned. The 
great Heart of thy Bridegroom is having especial mercy 
upon thee, and when the clouds melt away and He 
showeth thee His face again, thou wilt never complain 
of the night which brought thee to so bright a day. 
The tabernacle of thy God is with thee. He will 



THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 179 



touch thine eyes with His own blessed hands, and wipe 
away all tears. Death and sorrow and mourning shall 
flee away. Night shall be no more, and He that sits 
upon the throne shall make all things new. 



XXVI 



Heart of Jesus, sweet support of 
Thy worshippers, have mercy 
upon us. 

" Thy rod and Thy staff : they have comforted me. Thou 
hast anointed my head with oil, and ??iy chalice which in- 
ebriateth me, how goodly is it ! And Thy mercy will follow 
me all the days of my life." — Psalm xxii. 4-6. 

" rpHE souls of the just are in the hands of God, and 



their hope is full of immortality." "Their re- 
ward is with the Lord, and the care of them with the 
Most High." u Behold how they are numbered among 
the children of God, and their lot is with the saints." 1 
Even in this life the divine providence is glorified, and 
wisdom is justified of her children. As the path of 
the Incarnate Word was marked out by His own fore- 
knowledge, and His steps were directed to the glory 
of the Trinity and the work of our redemption, so the 
follower of Christ is led by the same unerring wisdom. 
Every step which Jesus took, every breath He drew, 
every act of His earthly life, brought Him nearer to 
the end He proposed when He was conceived in the 




1 Wisdom iii. 1 ; v. 5, 16. 



THE DIVIDE SA]S T CTUAEY. 



181 



womb of Mary. Holy Scripture calls Him " the mys- 
tery of godliness which was manifested in the flesh, 
was justified in the spirit, and appeared unto angels." 1 
Consistent and wonderful in the angelic eyes was the 
course of Him who took our infirmities to heal them, 
and assumed our nature to unite it to God. His ways 
were among the mysteries of the covenant of grace, 
where mercy and justice met together, and the malice 
of sin braved the divine vengeance. The fiercest of 
trials and the most terrible humiliations were His, 
when the rebel creature held its God in its power. 
Yet in all, love held Him up, and the promises He had 
made in the council of the blessed Trinity were ful- 
filled. Angels were about Him in their mute adora- 
tion and exalted sympathy. Once He allowed them 
to bear with Him the burden of His agonizing soul, 
and to come to strengthen Him. Yet the Sacred 
Heart, the seat of His love, the fountain of the cleans- 
ing blood, guided His footsteps and inspired His 
words and acts and sufferings. Its burning fervor 
urged Him onward, and rested not until with divine 
command He could declare His saving work com- 
plete, and on His cross cry out : " It is consum- 
mated." So over the ways of the just soul the 
beautiful providence of God is magnified. There is 
a gentle power which sustains all their steps, and 
through eveiy experience leads away from earth and 
nearer to heaven. There are conflicts and trials, often 
strange humiliations and long weariness; yet to the 



1 1 Tim. iii. 1G. 



182 THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 

sight of angels, and above all to the omniscient gaze, 
the golden ore is casting out the dross, and the light is 
growing brighter and brighter unto meridian day. To 
each one according to his need and the divine designs 
his own probation and experiences are allotted. The 
events of daily struggle seem to come by chance, yet 
they are as true as the steady moving of the planet in 
its orbit. In the process of sanctification, when once 
the will is resigned to the control of the Redeemer, 
the great work moves on, as if by an unfailing law. 
Like the harmony of the spheres, where unintelligent 
nature obeys the impulse of its Creator, the greater 
melody of the spiritual world sends on high its more 
worthy praise. We are taken from ourselves and our 
natural life, born again into the liberty of the children 
of God, and carried on to our destined end, the centre 
of our attraction, the heart of our deliverer who is 
drawing us to Himself by reproducing in us His own 
likeness. " Who is God, but the Lord ? He who hath 
girded me with strength and made my way blameless. 
Thou hast given me the protection of Thy salvation, 
and Thy right hand hath held me up. Thy discipline 
hath corrected me unto the end, and Thy discipline, the 
same shall teach me." 1 When the battle is over and 
we shall see as we are seen, and know as we are 
known, it shall be the delight of our eternity to praise 
the gentle providence which so wonderfully adapted 
the means to the end, and with such patience perse- 
vered in its mighty work. 



1 Psalm xvii. 32, 33, 36. 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



183 



From whence comes the inspiration of this wisdom 
in our regard ? Whence is the power which cooperates 
with the wisdom and sustains our feeble steps? Who 
holds us up in the darkness, and breathes the words 
of courage in the hour of adversity ? Whence is the 
sweet support which in our day of need so endears 
itself to our souls, that we can even rejoice in our 
trials ? To the Sacred Heart of Jesus we owe all, and 
hence we are not only its true worshippers ; we lift 
our eyes also to the throne, and while there we fix our 
adoring gaze, we know that its " mercy shall follow 
us all the days of our life." The rod and the staff 
which sustained the weary way of the man of sorrows 
have comforted us. There is one who wears a human 
face beaming with love, and in the lonely exile He 
comes to "anoint my head with oil." How goodly 
is the chalice which He poureth forth for my refresh- 
ment ! It is the fountain of perennial life from His 
veins, " the water which becomes in me a spring 
gushing up into life everlasting." 1 " How lovely are 
Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. My soul longeth 
and fainteth for Thy courts. My heart and my flesh 
have rejoiced in the living God." 2 Love orders the 
steps of the just, and not simply the love of Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost in their . power, wisdom, and 
activity. It is the love of God made man, abiding 
and working in His human heart. O that we could 
arouse our sluggish faculties to feel the greatness of 
our calling, and the dignity of our inheritance in our 



1 St. John iv, 14. 



2 Pt?alm lxxxiii. 1-3. 



184 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



adoption in Christ ! Our refuge is in tlie breast of 
the Incarnate Word, whose divine affections attract and 
govern us. " He that is mounted upon the heaven 
is thy helper. By His magnificence the clouds run 
hither and thither. His dwelling is above, and under- 
neath are the everlasting arms. Who is like to thee, 
O people, that art saved by the Lord ? the shield of 
thy help and the sword of thy glory ? " 1 " The God 
of thy father shall be thy keeper, and the Almighty 
shall bless thee, with the blessings of heaven above, 
and with the blessings of the deep that lieth beneath, 
until the desire of the everlasting hills shall come," 2 
and He who has led thee, and drawn thee, shall reveal 
His face, and thou shalt awake in His likeness and be 
satisfied. This sense of our sweet support coming 
ever from the Heart of Jesus, will give us strength and 
confidence in the remaining days of our pilgrimage. 

How can we fail when the almighty arms hold us 
up ? Is there a conflict or a trial which He will not 
bless and sanctify. Could the waves of evil prevail to 
submerge the bruised and broken form of our divine 
advocate? He took our cause down into the deep 
waters, and in the darkest night broke the sceptre of 
the principalities and powers arrayed against Him. 
Is there not a mighty vigor in His precious blood 
which shall renew our strength like the spring of per- 
petual youth ? u Knowest thou not, or hast thou not 
heard ? The Lord is the everlasting God, who hath 
created the ends of the earth. He shall not faint nor 



1 Deut. xxxiii. 25-29. 



2 Gen. xlix. 23, 26. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 



185 



labor, neither is there any searching out of His wis- 
dom. It is He that giveth strength to the weary, and 
increaseth force and might to them that are not. 
Youths shall faint and labor, and young men shall fall 
by infirmity. But they that hope in the Lord shall 
renew their strength, they shall take wings as the 
eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall 
walk and not faint." 1 Labor only adds to their 
vigor, and exhaustion increaseth power, and seeming 
decay is the passing away of the corruptible into the 
immortal. Nor is it the justice of God which shapes 
our paths and guides us through the purifying fire. 
That justice is in the sway of a love which has pre- 
vailed in our behalf to disarm even the terrors of the 
law, and fear is cast aside where the hands that were 
nailed to the cross with our offences lead us onward. 
Victory is already ours through Him, and the bright 
expectation of our future filleth the present with 
heavenly illumination. " Not yet hath it appeared 
what we shall be." The sight would be too much 
for our unglorified eyes. Beyond the cross lieth the 
sharp agony of death. Beyond the scene of dissolu- 
tion is the sepulchre with its night of corruption. But 
the seed planted in a goodly soil shall be quickened 
and germinate into eternal fruit. " We know that 
when He shall appear we shall be like to Him, for we 
shall see Him as He is." 2 O sweet support of the 
true soul, thou shalt prove thyself to be all-satisfying 
in that hour. Then do I rest on Thee, and in Thy 



1 Isaias xl. 28-31. 



2 1 E. St. John iii. 2. 



186 THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 



love repose ray confidence. Not the saints with their 
bright garments shall be my refuge in that tremendous 
day. Not the Angels excelling in strength shall bear 
me up in the terrors of judgment. Even beyond Mary 
my immaculate mother and her unequalled grace, I fly 
to Thee, Heart of my Jesus, and in thee I have no 
place for fear. "What Thou art to me, Thy loving- 
soul alone can know. "Thou hast held me by my 
right hand, and by Thy will Thou hast conducted me, 
and with glory hast Thou received me. For Thee my 
flesh and my heart hath fainted away ; Thou art the 
God of my heart and the God that is my portion 
forever." 1 



x Psalm lxxii. 24, 26. 



XXVII 



Heart of Jesus, Perseverance of the 
Just, have mercy upon us. 

" If 'God be for uc, who is against us? He that spared 
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how hath 
He not also with Hi?n given us all things ? Who shall ac- 
cuse against the elect of God? God that justifieth ? Who 
is he that shall condemn ? Christ Jesus that died, yea, that 
is also risen again, who is at the right hand of God, who 
also maketh intercession for us ? Who then shall separate 
us from the love of Christ? I am sure that neither death 
nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height \ nor depth, 
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the 
love of God which is hi Christ Jesus our Lord!' — Romans 
viii. 3 T -39- 

ry^HE end crowns the work, and all our labor is in 



vain if we fail of reaching the goal, and winning 
the prize of onr high calling. "We are never at rest 
in this life, nor sure of our repose. There may be 
many a well-fought battle, but the enemy will still lie 
in wait. Here is not our home. It is the country of 
the adversary, who, ever vigilant, watches for our 
moments of sleep that he may find us unarmed, and 
rob us of the trophies of our dearly-won victories. 




188 THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



We cannot merit our perseverance and claim it as our 
reward. We must ever be clad with the whole armor 
of God, and be ready to fight to the end. Thus only 
can " we be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand 
in all things perfect." 1 Yet the place of our confi- 
dence is beyond the changes of time, and our hope 
entereth " within the veil where the forerunner Jesus 
pleadeth for us." 2 There is a Heart which loveth us, 
which hath conquered for us, and in its secure recesses 
" the anchor of our souls is sure and steadfast." 

So are we cheerful and confident in the midst of 
storm and conflict. Like sentinels, we stand serious 
before the face of deadly foes, but certain of con- 
quest. "He who hath begun a good work in us 
will perfect it until the day of His coming." 3 Love 
sends down its almighty supplies of strength in 
the hour of need. Love never slumbereth nor sleej)- 
eth. And human love kindled by the touch of the 
divine, sends back its trust, and willing labor. " I 
know," says the apostle, " whom T have trusted, and 
I am certain that He is able to keep that which I have 
committed unto Him against that day." "I have 
fought a good fi.ght 1 I have finished my course, I have 
kept the faith. There is laid up for me a crown of 
justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to 
me ; and not only to me, but to them also who love 
His coming." 4 

And surely it is not in ourselves that we trust, or in 



1 Eph. vi. 13. 

2 Heb. vi. 19, 20. 



3 Phil. i. 6. 

4 2 Tim. i. 12 ; iv. 7, 8. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 189 



any gifts which indulgent mercy has bestowed. There 
is nothing in us which can furnish the grounds of 
confidence, when the light of omniscience is thrown 
around us and all our acts appear in open day. What 
we are before the searching eyes of God, we hardly 
dare to think. " With the hearing cf the ear I have 
heard of Thee," what shall I do when mine eye seeth 
Thee ? Shall I not hide myself in the earth, and do 
penance in dust and ashes ? How shall I stand before 
Thy face in the day of doom, the fearful day, when 
Thou shait come to judge the world by fire ? Even 
the graces of Christ have been wasted, and the image 
impressed upon our souls at their new birth has 
lost its brightness. We have made the toilsome jour- 
ney to our heavenly home longer and more difficult 
by our many delays and wanderings. We can scarcely 
give back to God in their integrity the talents He has 
entrusted to our keeping. Can we expect Him to call us 
amid the terrors of judgment, the quaking earth, and 
melting heavens, and bid us, as good and faithful ser- 
vants, ascend to His arms and our reward? There 
has been so much inconstancy in our affections to our 
celestial lover. Because He has not embraced us with 
the arms of flesh, do we think He has not seen and felt 
our infidelities ? 

His blessed ways have not been after the manner of 
human love, as with divine wisdom He has guided our 
course and led us to the shadows of the night and the 
valley of humiliation. Neither would human love 
have had pitience with our changing moods, from 
which often all tenderness seemed to die away. If we 



190 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



have wearied of our heavenly spouse, and turned to 
the attractions of things created, how has Re been so 
condescending as to wait for a love that should awake 
again after the bitterness of contrition? And for that 
future which lies before us with its vicissitudes of 
trial, its sunlight or overshadowing gloom, its summer 
heat or chilling cold, who shall assure the faithful 
constancy of hearts so often found wanting? The 
mountain seen in the far distance seems but just above 
the horizon, but as we draw near to its foot its preci- 
pices startle as, and far above us its head is hidden in 
the clouds. Shall we have courage to climb its steep 
and rugged sides unmoved by the terrors of the desert 
or by the spirits of evil who lurk in high places ? 1 
"Who will stand as our surety when the night settles 
on the mountain, and the beasts of prey go forth to 
devour the unwary ? Shall our loins be girded and 
our step be firm in the hour of clanger? Will our 
lamps be trimmed and burning in the darkness, when 
faith and love alone hold up the cheering rays of hope ? 
Shall we be true to our standard when it goes down 
beneath the scorn of the world and the red hand of 
violence ? Often have we faltered when the gay ban- 
ner of the king of pleasure led along his hosts to the 
sound of revelry and the voice of sensual song. Shall 
we stand true when earth itself rejects its Lord, and 
the beauty of heaven sinks in the pool of Golgotha? 
When the armed adversary comes to wrestle with our 
Weakness, and touches with his grasp the wound 



1 Eph. vi. 12. 



THE DIVISTE sa^ctuahy. 



191 



whence proceeds all our feebleness, shall we persevere 
during the long watches of our vigil until the dawn? 
The possibilities of ruin are ever near to us. Dismal 
chasms yawn to engulf us ; and where sin lies so close 
to us, who shall assure us that we shall ever hear the 
voice of our Captain, and never swerve from His word 
of command ? We may have passed our Red Sea in 
safety. The famine has not prevailed over us, nor has 
the desert led us astray. The fiery serpents were un- 
able to destroy us, and the manna of heaven has been 
our unearthly strength in the wilderness. But how 
shall it be when the Jordan comes in sight and the 
chill waters of death lie before us ? Shall we be found 
in the panoply of justice, with the shield of faith 
against our breast, the helmet of salvation on our 
heads, and the sword of the Spirit in our right hands ? 
Shall the last earthly sound of the trumpet of our king 
call us to endless victory, where the clash of arms shall 
no more be heard, and the light of peace eternally 
shine upon the banner of the conqueror ? 

The true worshipper of the Heart of Jesus shall 
never fail, since he is doubly armed, and one, far 
mightier than he, rights the battles of the just. When 
the majesty of God erects the throne and sits in judg- 
ment where even angels are not clean, there shall arise 
the image of one who from that throne came down to 
poverty and tears and blood. It is the eternal Son, 
who bears our likeness and appears in our behalf. 
" If God be for us, then who shall be against us ? " 
When the Father's love spared not His only begotten, 
but gave Him freely up for our redemption, " how 



192 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



shall He not with Him give us all things ? " Is there 
any grace which is not contained in the co-equal Word 
by whom all things created live ? Who shall dare to 
lift up his voice in accusation against the elect, when 
out of t4ie mouth of that almighty Word comes the 
sentence of pardon and undying love? The Lamb 
slain stands in the bleeding garments of Calvary, with 
pierced hands and feet and open side. He stands in 
the glory of the throne, and from His kingly lrps our 
sanctification flows. Who will be able to break the 
current of His love, or quench the fire which he kin- 
dles on earth? No power can unloose the grasp of 
His loving arms. " Neither death nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor 
things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor 
any other creature," can come between our ransomed 
souls and the Heart of the Incarnate God. 

They are My treasures, saith the tender voice of our 
Jesus. By love they have come to the safe shelter 
whence they shall no more stray. " I know them, and 
they know Me. They hear My voice, and they follow 
Me. And I give them life everlasting ; and they shall 
not perish forever, and no man shall pluck them out 
of My hand." 1 "I will give them grace according 
to their need. I will be their sure refuge in life, and 
especially in death. Their names shall be inscribed in 
My Heart, and they shall never be effaced from it." 
O blessed road to our celestial home ! O open door, 
where he who willeth may enter in and find refuge from 



1 St.John x. 27, 28. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 193 

every storm, and partake of life eternal ! Let the bright 
seraphim in their glorious ranks extol Thy precious 
name, O Saviour of men, and the cherubim bow down 
before Thy wondrous face. Thou art my flesh and 
blood, and I am Thine. Washed and made clean in 
Thy blood, by Thee I shall live, and in Thee rejoice. 
For my lips which Thou hast touched there is a dearer 
music still. It is the canticle of Moses the servant of 
God, and the Lamb : " Great and wonderful are Thy 
works, O Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy 
ways, O King of Ages." 1 



1 Apoc. xv. 3. 



XXVIII. 



Heart of Jesus, Hope of those who 
die in Thee, have mercy upon us. 

" Have the gates of death been ope7ied to thee, and hast 
thou seen the darksonie doors ? " 

" Though I should walk through the midst of the shadow 
of death, I will fear no evils, for Thoti art with me?' 

" Hitherto thou shall come, and shall go no fwther, and 
here thou shall break thy swelling waves." — Job xxxviii. 17, 
11 ; Ps. xxii. 4. 

rpHERE reinaineth for every pilgrim his last trial, 



and for every soldier his last battle. The last 
conflict shall be the supreme moment of life, because 
on it eternal destinies depend. There may be many 
sterner contests, many more violent struggles, but when 
the last strife is over, there is no other enemy to be 
overcome. " The last enemy to be destroyed is 
death. 1 ' 1 So around this moment, which more than 
even that of birth dominates the whole field of life, 
gather both the foes of our salvation and the angel 
guides who lead to heaven. Here nature fails, and all 
its strength goes down in the heavy clouds of gloom. 
Weakness touches its extremity, and the iron sceptre 




1 1 Cor. XT. 26. 



THE DIVIDE SAKCTUAKY. 



195 



which so long held our race in bondage breaks the 
bands of flesh and shatters the comeliness of man. In 
other battles we go to the straggle with strong right 
hands and the vigor of youth or manhood or age. Here 
the palsied hands hang down, and the soul must arise 
over the decay of the body, and the failing forces of na- 
ture. " The light departs from the sun and the moon, 
and the days have come in which there is no pleasure. 
The keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men 
stagger, and the daughters of music grow deaf. Man 
approaches the house of his eternity, and the silver 
cord is to be broken, and the golden fillet to shrink 
back. The dust will return into its earth, from whence 
it was, and the spirit to God who gave it." 1 Earth 
shrinks away and loses all its power to cheer. Pain 
and disease take hold of the mortal frame and its forces 
are worn out in the unequal contest. The angel of 
death draws near, and his touch withers all that is fair 
and exhausts all that is strong. One by one the keep- 
ers of the house give way, and the lights are extin- 
guished. " Thou shalt change his face, and send him 
away to the unknown land of darkness, covered with 
the mist of death." 2 Signs of terror shall precede his 
coming ; paleness, anguish, faintness, the emaciation of 
the grave. Among the reptiles of the dust shall the 
strong man lie down, and flesh shall fall from bone, 
and sinew from sinew, until the living soul be called 
to its account, and dissolution seize its prey. Then 
shall he " say to corruption, thou art my father; to the 



1 Eccles. xii. 2-7. 



2 Job. xiv. 20 ; x. 21. 



196 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



worm, thou art niy mother and my sister." 1 Then 
when earth has no more power to hold us, and even 
loved ones shrink from our side, and tremble as the 
king of terrors sets his seal upon us, the powers of dark- 
ness are arming for their last battle. The spirits of 
evil like poisonous birds fly about us, and take upon 
themselves the shapes of our former sins. If they can- 
not tempt once more, at least they can bid us despair. 
They hold up in the gloom the handwriting of our 
offences, and in the quiver of our unearthly adversary 
there are a thousand arrows. Fear of the past and the 
future, disgust at our own low estate, the crushing 
sense of our nothingness in the hands of our Maker, 
rebellion against our many pains, distrust of the good- 
ness which afflicts us, all these great temptations rise 
up and bewilder the strength which falls to pieces on 
the bed of death. We have w r restled with the prince 
of darkness before, but never has he been close to us, 
nor so deadly in his malice. Now we feel his breath, 
and seem to wither before the burning presence of his 
hands. The smell of the charnel-house is upon him, 
and the impenetrable gloom of his spirit sinks like a 
w r eight into our hearts. Have we ever been so near the 
unrest, the disquiet of the lost ? Now his hands are 
melting with unknown heat, now they are icy cold as 
the chill waters whither we are falling. 

And when at last we fall, where shall we land ? 
When all is over, and earth is gone forever, and the 
pulses forever stilled, what face shall we see? Where 



1 Job xvii. 14. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 197 



from darkness so intense shall we awake ? The face of 
our judge shall look upon us, and Q, how shall He ap- 
pear in that tremendous moment ? Shall I have cour- 
age after my great conflict to look up and meet that 
true, that impartial, that omniscient eye ? Then are 
all the secrets of my life to be told, my whole past with 
all its record to be unfolded. O, where shall I hide 
myself ? I could ill bear the light of my conscience ; 
I shrink from the judgment of men ; I cannot abide 
the brightness of the angels. How can I stand before 
my God, my Creator, my Eedeemer ? " Behold among 
His saints none are unchangeable, and the heavens are 
not pure in His sight. 1 ' 1 " Enter not into judgment 
with Thy servant, O Lord, for in Thy sight shall no 
living man be justified." 2 O, where shall I turn in 
this awful moment, and who shall find me a refuge, 
that I may bear the gaze of my judge? Who shall be 
my advocate before that tribunal from whose sentence 
there can be no appeal ? Who will appear for me and 
hold me up in that tremendous hour ? 

Before my failing eyes there seems to come a vision 
of unearthly sweetness, and courage like a strong breath 
of the Almighty seems to nerve me to new life. From 
the face which I did not dare to look at, my sight has 
fallen to the breast of my Eedeemer. The wound 
there is all open, and rivets mine eyes with unwonted 
attraction. Here I look within and behold the Heart 
which so loved my wretchedness. It seems to move 
to me. It draws me within its safe shelter, and from 



1 Job xv. 15. 



3 Ps, cxlii. 2. 



198 THE DIVIDE SA^CTUAEY. 



the fierceness of the judgment I am hidden. My un- 
earthly foes are gone, and one by one the clouds of 
gloom melt away, until the cheering light dawns upon 
my gladdened soul. Sins forgiven are no more remem- 
bered. Inconstancy in my love is covered by fidelity 
in death, and I hear a voice whose accents I have been 
longing for all the days and nights of my pilgrimage. 
" Child of My Heart, thou art at rest. Come and re- 
pose forever on my wounded breast." " I was thy hope 
in life; I am thy assured refuge in death." "Thou 
hast seen the darksome doors, and the gates of death 
have been opened to thee." The icy waters have 
touched thee, but thou hast no more to fear, for I have 
spoken to the floods and their power is stayed. " Hith- 
erto shaft thou come and shalt go no further, and here 
shalt thou break thy swelling waves." I am with thee 
in the dark valley where flesh and sense fail, and in 
the chill shadow of death " thou shalt fear no evils, for 
I am with thee." I lead thee where my feet have 
passed to bless and sanctify the w T ay. The Sacred 
Heart has passed the gloom and terror of death, and 
there for us has overcome the last enemy. " Death is 
swallowed up in victory. O death ! where now is thy 
victory ? O grave ! where is thy sting ? " 1 

There is something beyond all things wonderful in 
the death of the Incarnate God. That life itself should 
bow clown to the king of terrors, and the soul and 
body of Christ be sundered by violence, is a mystery 
which appalls our understanding. Could we raise our 



1 1 Cor. xv. 54, 55. 



THE DIVIDE SAISTCTUARF, 199 

feeble intellects to see as the angels saw, this frighten- 
ing spectacle of God condescending to the humiliation 
of death, how would our souls exhaust themselves with 
wonder and awe ! But the great reality the eyes of 
God alone can behold, the omniscience of God alone 
can comprehend. Yet if the Heart of Jesus were loving 
and winning in life, how much more attractive is it in 
death ! Every pulsation was a divine act of love, and 
now when grief and sorrow and violence have well 
nigh stopped its beatings, with what an agonizing 
spring of affection shall the last movement come ? It 
seems as if the pent-up love of a dying God awoke to 
a divine expression in this last pulsation with which 
the wondrous Heart ceased to beat, and on this tide of 
love passed the holy soul to the paradise of the fathers, 
there to speak of redemption finished and the cause of 
mercy won. O, the view of that Heart still in death, 
how it stirs the depths of feeling in our breasts, and 
tears the roots of sin and pride from our souls ! The 
Heart of our Jesus, in the shadow of the dark valley, 
in the cold embrace of death, how it moves our way- 
ward souls to contrition and awakes them to gratitude ! 
Silent it lies in the opened bloodless side where the 
dark gash of the spear has revealed its inner loveliness. 
Glazed are the eyes with which it looked so tenderly 
upon our sorrows ; closed are the lips with which it 
spoke in our wanderings the words of welcome and 
pardon. Yet there, as the precious body hangs upon 
the cross, or rests on Mary's agonizing bosom, or reposes 
on the cold marble of the tomb, it speaks the words 
of victory and celebrates its great conquest over the 



200 



THE DIVIXE SANCTUARY. 



powers of darkness. "Despoiling the principalities 
and powers, He hath exposed them confidently in open 
show, triumphing over them in Himself." 1 

Over our last battle gleams the standard of the Con- 
queror ; the trumpet of His call sounds to the attack, 
and the voice of the Master nerves to courage. " Arise, 
make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and 
come." 2 The combat presses, and earth recedes in the 
far distance, and the confines of an unknown land 
stretch before the illumined vision. The gloom of 
falling nature is lighted up with an unearthly ray, and 
the pangs of dissolution lose their terror, while a sweet- 
ness beyond all knowledge seems to bathe the strug- 
gling soul in its living waters. On this last night of 
the pilgrim arises the sun of heaven, the glory of the 
Lamb, the cheering beams that make glad the city of 
God. The dawn is at hand. Fear loses itself in love. 
The heart of the child emulates its great model, and its 
last beating is its most fervent act of love ; and with 
the longing cry, " Come Jesus, my Lord, come quick- 
ly! " it springs to the arms of its spouse, and rests on 
the breast of its deliverer. 

Yre know in whom we have trusted, and if it be joy 
to live in the Sacred Heart, it shall be peace to die by 
its strength and in its embrace. There Mercy crowns 
its blessed work. The ark of the covenant touches the 
waters of Jordan and they divide before the pilgrim. 
The holy city Jerusalem comes down out of heaven 
from God, and its open gates invite to eternal rest. 



1 Coloss. ii. 15. 



2 Canticles ii. 10. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 201 



Now the nuptial chamber is near, and the Bridegroom 
cometh. "My soul melteth when I hear His voice." 
The blissful ecstacy of union overcometh my being, 
when I look upon His face. " I to my Beloved and 
my Beloved to me." The glad chant comes up from 
the celestial city, as the voice of many waters, and as 
the voice of great thunders. "Alleluia! The Lord 
our God hath reigned. Let us be glad and rejoice, for 
the marriage of the Lamb is come." 1 

Heart is joined to heart in " this day of the king's 
espousals, the day of the joy of His heart," and from 
the glory of the throne comes the word of command, 
" Come from Libanus, my spouse. The day is breaking 
and the shadows have departed. Come from the hills 
of earth, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains 
of the leopards, come and thou shalt be crowned." 2 



1 Apoc. xix. G, 7. 



2 Canticles iv. 6, 8. 



XXIX. 



Heart of Jesus, Salvation of all who 
trust in Thee, have mercy upon 



"A7td he showed me a river of water of life, clear as 
crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 
In the 7?iidst of the street thereof, and on both sides of the 
river, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its 
fruits every month, a?id the leaves of the tree were for the 
healing of the nations. And there shall be no curse any 
more ; but the throne of God and of the Lainb shall be in 
it, and His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see 
His face, and His na?ne shall be on their foreheads." — 
Apocalypse xxii. 1-4. 

rp HE month of the Sacred Heart wears away, and 



our meditations draw to a close. They have 
begun in the breast of Love incarnate, and they must 
end at their source. The great circle of grace begins 
and ends in the Heart of the Word made flesh. He 
who is consubstantial with the eternal Father took a 
human soul and body that He might embrace us. In 
His bosom are hid the treasures of wisdom and knowl- 
edge, the sweetness of the divine complacency, and 
the all-comprehending mercy of the Trinity. TTe have 



US. 




THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 203 

seen the revelation of uncreated love in His face and 
person. The glories of His heart are the beams of 
light which illumine the wilderness of our misery and 
guide through the darkness to our true home. 

He descended to the valley of our nothingness, and 
brought the innocence and strength of God to bear 
the load of our sorrows. When the breast which held 
the great love of God for man was pierced by our 
cruel spear, He opened therein the unquenchable 
fountain of our redemption. " He drank of the brook 
in the way," and came down from the cross with new 
power to heal our maladies, and new graces in His 
bleeding hands to quicken our new-born life. Hence- 
forth He and His children were one. They were born 
from His open side. They bore the features of their 
original ; they could not be torn from His arms. He 
will lead them through their toilsome journey, sup- 
port them in weakness and trial, hold them up in the 
onset of battle, and crown them at last by His side in 
His heavenly kingdom. So, as we have adored the 
Sacred Heart in its glories, as we have wept with its 
sorrows, and have triumphed in its strength, we shall 
hope to follow its unearthly guidance to the rest of the 
blessed, to the eternal home where shadows flee away, 
and there shall come the unending, unbroken embrace 
of our Bridegroom. The closing hours of this month 
are like the closing hours of life, when the pilgrim of 
earth draws near the end of his long warfare. The 
sun sets in golden clouds, and with the bright promise 
of the morrow. Time ceases, and the glad eternity 
begins, where the faithful soldier lays his well-tried 



204 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



armor down, and is clad in the nuptial garment for 
the king's high festivity. Let us lift up our hearts to 
the scene of victory, and, unworthy as we are, look 
into the land of unfading joy, and behold the bliss to 
which, with cords of love, the humanity of our deliv- 
erer draws us. What our unaided sight could not 
bear, what our failing intellect could not comprehend, 
the Sacred Heart will teach us. It is the salvation of 
all its trusting followers. O Spirit of Christ, touch 
with Thy divine energy our feeble powers, and help us 
to know something of this great salvation. 

The scene of death with all its shadows is passed. 
The judgment to which we have looked forward so 
long with fear is over. The great battle is fought and 
the final victory is w T on. We have seen the face which 
is the sun of the celestial city. The " man of sorrows " 
has proved His truth and kept His plighted faith. We 
are His forever, and He whose word is creating, whose 
will the universe obeys, has called us blessed, and bid- 
den us enter into our home. " In My Father's house, 
behold thy mansion which I have prepared for thee, 
where thou shalt reign with Me and My saints in the 
endless years." Is there a stain upon my soul which 
makes me fear to touch the consuming fire, and come 
close to the bosom where love and justice meet ? Am 
I able to look up to the eyes of my divine bridegroom, 
and is my wedding-robe ready for the marriage ? Per- 
haps there remains for me the pain of short parting 
from my love, the need of the refiner's fire to cast out 
my dross. Then with loving tears will I go away and 
hide myself where the mercy of the Sacred Heart shall 



THE DIVIKE SAKCTUARY. 



205 



follow me, and I will wait for my purifying till the 
eyes of my spouse can bear me close to His bosom, and 
find me all His own. 

But there shall come the day that calls me to my nup- 
tials, the day when the Lamb's wife shall be ready, when 
the celestial city shall open to me and its gates receive 
me forever. There the walls gleaming with pearls and 
precious stones shall encompass my home. I shall see 
the golden streets which lead to the palace of my 
King. The crystal river of life flows from the throne, 
and its waters make glad the living verdure of para- 
dise, where on every side the tree of life yields its 
fruit for the healing of the nations. I hear the sound 
of harpers with their ecstatic melody ; and the over- 
whelming harmony of the angelic song joins with the 
canticles of the saints. A new inspiration seizes my 
soul, a divine sweetness prevails over me, and my 
tongue is unloosed to the swelling chorus, and sings 
its hymn of praise. A light so penetrating and yet so 
blissful shines around me that I seem to be bathed 
in its golden flood. It is the light which quickens all 
my powers, and reveals to my wondering vision the 
beauties of the soul, of the saints, of the great nature 
of my angelic companions. The very being of my 
God seems near to me in that light, and I seem to see 
and feel the incomprehensible strength of deity. There 
is no sun which shines above my head, and no moon 
illumines the splendor of that hour. " The glory of 
God enlightens the city, and the Lamb is the lamp 
thereof. The nations walk in the light of it, and the 
kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into 



206 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



it." 1 " In this uncreated light I behold the Light," 
and in its meridian blaze I awake to the life of bliss. 
Around rne are the saints in their white robes, the 
noble army of the martyrs, the goodly company of the 
prophets, the throng of confessors, and the choir of 
virgins with the lilies of purity in their hands. The 
great spirits of the angels exult before me in their 
strength, and on their wings bear me up and bring me 
nearer to the throne. I feel an attraction so mighty 
that it transports me, and so sweet that it melts my 
being in the sighs of love. It lifts me up, it carries 
me to the feet of my God. On the sapphire throne 
where in overwhelming beauty gleams the consum- 
ing fire, I behold my Beloved. Is He that sits 
upon the throne the bridegroom of my soul ? Is He 
really mine ? Do I at last behold His face, and is 
His blessed name written on my forehead ? O while 
He thus draws me to His breast, I see my portion in 
His heart. The hands bear the print of the nails. 
The feet are marked with the open wound. The 
head, amid the s|>lendors of deity in the embrace of 
Father and Holy Ghost, wears the scars of the thorny 
crown. The side all ready to receive me reveals to 
me the loving Heart which by its mercy brought me 
here, and crowns me in the glory of His chosen. u O, 
stay me up with the flowers of paradise, because I 
languish with love." " His left hand is under my 
head, and His right hand doth embrace me." I offer 
Him in the transports of my bliss my whole being, 



s Apoc. xxi. 23, 34. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 207 



and now there can be no shadow of inconstancy in my 
heart. " While the king is at His repose, my spike- 
nard sends forth its odor " 1 among the incense of 
heaven. Then in the felicity of my happy lot I fall 
down transported with wonder and gratitude. What 
am I that this great mercy should so magnify itself in 
my nothingness ? What have I been that the beauty 
of God should draw me to itself, and the splendors of 
redemption be shown in my soul ? Why this blessed 
reward for my poor labors? Why this overcoming 
sweetness for my changing and unworthy heart? 
Thou alone canst tell me the secret of my salvation. 
O take me to Thine arms and bless my eternity by 
the dear revelations of Thy dealings with my soul. 
Tell me why I have been so precious in Thy sight, 
that Thou didst choose me for Thy spouse, and win 
me at so great a cost, until now I repose upon Thy 
bosom, and there can come no shadow between Thee 
and me. Tell me, for amid the harmonies of heaven 
there is no music like Thy voice, and there are no 
words so dear as those which speak of Thy great love 
for me. 

And I will listen all the glad moments of my eter- 
nity; but it is not from the tender lips that the 
miracle of my salvation is told. While no sound is 
uttered, the Sacred Heart ''indites a good word," and 
my being thrills at the tale of mercy which so encom- 
passed me in the hours of strife and fearful danger. 
" Child of my bosom, fear not while I recount to thee 



1 Canticles ii. 5, G ; i. 11. 



208 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



the perils which thou hast passed, for thou art where 
even memory can bring no gloom upon thy rest. Not 
for thyself did I choose thee, nor for thy gifts did I 
seek thee. I moved to thee in thy early days, and 
prevented thee with the blessings of My sweetness. 
Because thou wast precious in My sight, I chose thee 
to be the jewel of My redeeming crown, and with 
gentle patience and tender care I followed thee in all 
thy ways. There were trying moments for My love. 
The waters rose to quench it, and the thick shadows 
to hide it. But it was strong as death, and it rose 
above the flood and shone above the gloom. More 
than once I seemed to lose thee in the dark labyrinth 
whither thou didst run from Me. More than once it 
seemed as if some created love had won thy heart from 
Me, and I had lost thee forever. Thou didst shut thy 
door, and bar it against Me, but there through the sad 
watches I kept vigil. ' Open to me, My sister, My love, 
My dove ; for My head is full of dew, and My locks of 
the drops of the night.' 1 And My patience prevailed 
over thee, and I found thee again. I clasped thee in 
My arms ; I led thee by steps which thou didst not 
know ; I touched thy earthly joys and drew the clouds 
above thy dwelling-place. I broke thine idols and 
wearied thee with the vanities of thy deceiver. I 
showed My sweetness to thee, and fought for thee 
with all thine enemies. ' I gave My angels charge over 
thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.' 2 So did I win thee 
and bring thee through struggle, through death, to be 



1 Canticles v. 2. 



2 Psalm xc. 11. 



THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 



209 



Mine forever. Look within the recesses of My Heart, 
and gaze upon this abyss of love which there unfolds 
itself before thee, and tells to wondering spirits the 
mystery of thy salvation. Come closer to Me, and 
satisfy at last the yearning of the Sacred Heart which 
sought thee, which watched over thee, which held thee 
fast, which has saved thee." 



XXX. 



Heart of Jesus, Delight of all the 
saints, have mercy upon us. 

"And He said to me : It is done; I am Alpha and 
Omega, the beginning and the end. To hiin that thirsteih 
will [give of the water of life, freely. He that shall over- 
come shall possess these things, and I will be his God, and 
he shall be My son!' — Apoc. xxi. 6, 7. 

" I adjure you, 0 daughters of jferusalem, if you fold my 
Beloved^ that you tell Him that I languish with love!' — 
Canticles v. 8. 

~TTT"IIEN the hour of victory shall come, the re- 



' * deemed and sanctified heart shall find its rest 
in the breast of its Lord. There, when the dawn of 
the eternal day illumines the soul of the just, the 
sweet nuptials shall be celebrated, and heart shall 
answer to heart, and the Bridegroom shall reveal 
Himself in all His loveliness. Often has He drawn 
the pilgrim by an attraction far dearer than language 
could express. Often has He even in the shadows of 
the night, or in the waste of the desert, disclosed some 
beams of the entrancing light, which so filled our souls 
that for a moment every cloud vanished from our sky, 
and gloom seemed no longer possible. But now there 




THE DIVINE SANCTUARY. 211 



is a new biith, and all things are changed. It is not 
like the birth of water and the Holy Ghost, w 7 hich 
bore the darkness of Bethlehem where the bright glory 
of the Highest lay in shadows, and the Word made 
flesh w 7 as ushered into a sinful world to fight w T ith 
mortal foes, to be wounded, and to overcome in blood. 
The corruptible has put on incorruption. The mortal 
has become immortal. We cannot know the measure 
of our bliss, for our sonship has been revealed in the 
splendor of the throne. We are changed by the power 
of an overwhelming life, and lifted up to a communion 
with the very substance of God, and the Word by whom 
all things were made. The strong arms of deity en- 
circle the new born, and the light of glory encom- 
passes it, and the beatific vision quickens it with 
divine felicity. We behold at the right hand of the 
throne our model, our exemplar, the image of the 
Eternal Father, who once revealed Himself to our 
hearts in the days of His flesh. " The Life was mani- 
fested, which was from the beginning. We saw Him 
with our eyes, heard Him with our ears, and touched 
Him with our hands. 15 1 He came to our side, and His 
great beauty and tenderness drew us after Him, and 
held us up in our journey to the celestial city. We 
saw Him at His holy altar, and felt the power of His 
presence. He renewed the might of Calvary in our 
souls, gave us His very flesh to be our food, and out 
of His wounded side poured the " wine which germi- 
nates virgins." Now we have come to Him in His 



1 1 St. John i. 1, 2. 



212 



THE DIVINE SAXCTUAEY. 



kingdom of glory, where every enemy lies prostrate at 
His feet. He bath appeared in His matchless beanty, 
and our whole being melts with joy. The consuming 
fire gleams upon His countenance, and we look upon 
it, and live with a new and blissful life. " He hath 
appeared to us, and behold we are like unto Him, and 
can see Him as He is." 1 u The face of Jesus Christ " 
is the sun which illumines and quickens our glorified 
nature. " The light of the knowledge of the glory of 
the Most High shines in our hearts through the face 
of Christ." 2 We gaze upon that face as it looks into 
our eyes with creating love, and beholding there "the 
divine glory, are transformed into the same image 
through growing degrees of grace, by the energy of 
the all-quickening Spirit." 3 Every veil is drawn from 
the sacred humanity. The shadows of Bethlehem and 
the night of Calvary are forever gone. The srjlendors 
of the conqueror are the living beams of grace which 
exalt and glorify the redeemed. Then to the spouse 
shall the Bridegroom speak. His words are the words 
of the lover, and they are the words of the King : 
64 Child of My Heart, come to My arms, and find thine 
everlasting rest It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, 
the beginning and the end. The great work is com- 
plete. Thou hast known something of the beginning ; 
thou shalt learn the bliss of the glorious end. Come 
to thy nuptials where the water of life rloweth freely, 
where I will write My new name and the name of My 
Father upon thy forehead. Come up hither to My 



1 1 St. John iii. 2. 



2 2 Cor, iv. 6. 3 2 Cor. iii. 18. 



THE DIVIKE SAKCTUARY. 



213 



side, and I will clothe thee in white garments, and 
make thee a pillar in the temple of My God." " From 
My presence thou shalt go out no more. Listen to the 
canticles of praise. The celestial harpers have begun 
their melody, and the joy of the Bridegroom and the 
bride is ours. " The fountain of gardens gushes forth ; 
the well of living waters sparkles in the uncreated 
light." The flowers bloom in the land of everlasting 
spring. The aromatical spices give forth their heav- 
enly odor. " I run to my Beloved, and His turning is 
towards me. How beautiful art Thou, my Love, how 
comely, my dearest in delights." "Put me new as a 
seal upon Thy Heart, as a seal upon Thine arm ; for 
now is love stronger than death," 1 It is the spring of 
life, and bears the soul with divine energy into the 
very bosom of God. Let me look upon Thy face, my 
Beloved, and in my espousals feast myself upon Thy 
beauty. Thou art mine own at last, and I am Thine. 
No shadow can cross our nuptials, and the hour of 
parting shall never come. No power can pluck me 
from Thine arms. Eternity shall roll on with its 
countless years, and I shall be ever at Thy side, learn- 
ing more and more of Thee, and drawing closer to 
Thy breast to taste of Thy delights, and to be inebri- 
ated with the bliss of our love." 

Then shall saints around the throne learn in the 
humanity of God the Word the secrets and the joys 
of the Trinity. Then He who in the day of regenera- 
tion hath opened to them the mysteries of redemption, 



Canticles. 



214 



THE DIVIDE SA^CTTJAKY. 



the love of the Father, the condescension of the Son, 
the patience of the Holy Ghost, shall in the day of 
glorification unfold the greater secrets which lie in the 
bosom of deity. He who is the fountain of all, for 
whom every created intelligence longs, in whom are 
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, shall 
come to the ransomed soul and through the Word 
made flesh speak to its intelligent and loving nature. 
The Lamb born of Mary, and wearing her likeness, 
shall be the sun of the heavenly temple, where the 
eternal growth in knowledge shall be the eternal 
growth in love. Angels shall surround Him with 
their shining ranks; cherubim and seraphim kneel 
before Him witli their exalted adoration. The saints 
who bear His nature, who have washed their robes 
and made them white through His blood, shall be the 
trophies of His victory. Where rebel angels fell down 
into the abyss of everlasting darkness, they have come 
to fill the vacant thrones. There are little children 
who in their blight innocence bear the likeness of His 
birth in Bethlehem. There are apostles and pontiffs 
in the long line of confessors for His name. There 
are martyrs coming with their crimson garments, and 
the palm branches in their hands. There are virgins 
ever espoused to Him alone, whose white robes glisten 
in His near embrace. Around the consubstantial Son, 
the child of Mary, do they stand, and His image is 
imprinted upon their features. Light goes back to 
light, the incense arises from the thousand censers, and 
thousands of thousands chant their praises in the 
ecstatic song, " To Him that sittefch on the throne, and 



THE DIVINE SANCTUAKY. 215 



to the Lamb, benediction and honor and glory and 
power for ever and ever." 1 

Then shall the saints exult in Him whose nature 
they bear, and the Sacred Heart shall be their eternal 
delight, the fountain of their great joy. Here in the 
open side of Jesus, where the pilgrim finds his full 
repose, shall all the mysteries of divine love unfold 
themselves, the w T ondrous condescension of the Trinity, 
the incarnation of God the Son, the humiliations of 
His human life, and the secrets of His electing love. 
Here the attraction which drew so mightily in the 
days of doubt and fear and battle, shall complete its 
work in the grand revelation of divine love. 

The ways that are unspeakable because they come 
from the bosom of the Omniscient, here come into 
milder light, as they are pictured in the life and 
glories and sorrows and offices of the Sacred Heart. 
The book is opened to the longing gaze, and the soul 
caught up by the powers of the w T orld unseen is 
taught the language of the blessed Three in One, as 
together they discourse of redemption and its final 
glories. What the Father saith to the Son, and the 
Holy Spirit repeats in the sacred council, the Word 
made flesh reveals to His own, where the loving hands 
entw T ine themselves around the redeemed, and the 
touch thrills their exalted being with bliss. The pil- 
grim has come to the divine sanctuary, where the 
splendor of the Lamb illumines the temple not made 
with hands, where, through the open door of His 



1 Apoc. v. 13. 



21G 



THE DIVIDE SANCTUARY. 



Redeemer's Heart, lie enters in to feast upon the joys 
of the divinity. The wings of the consubstantial 
Spirit bear him up, the arms of the Ancient of Days 
open to receive him, while the breast of the incarnate 
Son becomes his home and resting-place for ever. 
Brighter tabernacles than those of the transfiguration 
are prepared for him. It is not the cloud of glory 
which overshadows him, but the very light of the 
divine essence which shines within him. It is the 
glory which perfects the union of hearts, and makes 
perpetual the joy of the celestial nuptials. "The 
glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given to 
them, that they may be one, as we also are one. I in 
them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect 
in One:' 1 

So as the all-pitying love of God looked down upon 
our low estate, and chose the human Heart of His in- 
carnate Son for the seat of His mercy, the temple 
where in our flesh He might celebrate the marriage 
of the King, the ransomed soul lifted to the embrace 
of deity, purified by divine blood, reformed by un- 
created hands, rests its whole being in the same most 
tender sanctuary. God and man meet together in this 
chosen dwelling-place. 

u Lord, it is good for us to be here." 2 Here will I 
dwell for all eternity, for Thou in Thy great mercy 
hast made this Heart to be the place of my rest. 



1 St. John xvii. 22, 23. 



St. Matt. xvii. 4. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Jan. 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township.. PA 1 6066 
(724) 779-2111 



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